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UK: BNP campaign against mosques

01 March 1996

The British National Party (BNP) has stepped up it racist "Rights for Whites" campaign in the run-up to a general election. They have targeted a proposal to build a mosque on disused land in Beckton in south Newham, east London, and have leafleted local residents urging them to attend a local consultative meeting to oppose the mosque. The anonymous leaflet contained a farrago of lies and outright racist propaganda and suggested that the mosque will dominate the neighbourhood. It produced a plan of the mosque despite the fact that building plans are at an early stage and the local authority has yet to receive an application for planning permission. The BNPs intention is clearly to whip-up a racist fervour in order to gain support in the forthcoming elections. Their leafleting campaign was accompanied by the usual intimidatory tactics and have led to complaints by residents who were threatened outside a local school. At a Consultative Committee meeting, packed with fascist supporters, BNP members tape recorded the proceedings and noted the names of those who spoke in favour of the mosque. The Newham Monitoring Project (NMP), a local group formed after the racist killing of Akhtar Ali Baig in 1980, has launched a campaign to highlight the BNPs divisive and self-interested role in establishing a `Rights for Whites'campaign. It has been working with the local St. Mark's Church and Community Centre and, while acknowledging that some black and white residents may have legitimate concerns about the building project, insist that any decision "has to be made on what is best for the whole community." The BNP has also been bringing supporters from across the capital in a campaign to oppose the building of a mosque in Merton, south London. The NMP can be contacted at 382 Katherine Road, Forest Gate, London E7 8NW. Tel. 0181 555 8151. CARF no 31 (April/May) 1996