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UK: BNP leaders arrested

01 November 2004

In December the leader of the British National Party (BNP), Nick Griffin, was arrested on suspicion of incitement to commit racial hatred following a BBC television documentary, The Secret Agent, which was broadcast last July. Griffin is the twelfth BNP member to be arrested following the programme, in which an uncover reporter infiltrated the organisation and covertly filmed footage showing activists boasting of racist attacks and other crimes. Seven of those rounded up by police are suspected of racially aggravated public order offences, conspiracy to commit criminal damage and possession of a firearm and have been bailed. Among those detained is founding chairman, John Tyndall, who was arrested at his home in Brighton on suspicion of incitement to racial hatred following a speech he made in Burnley. Tyndall will challenge Griffin for the leadership of the party in 2005.

The BNP, was infiltrated by journalist Jason Gwynne in December 2003, after being contacted by Bradford organiser Andy Sykes who had become disillusioned by the organisation's politics and criminal activities. He agreed to introduce Gwynne to the party leadership in order to gain evidence against them. "I heard the BNP leader Nick Griffin give a speech inciting racial hatred and the founder, John Tyndall, inciting racial hatred and I heard some awful anti-Semitic remarks", Gwynne said. His evidence includes one BNP member, Steve Barkham, confessing to a violent assault on an Asian man and a prospective election candidate admitting to pushing dog excrement through the letterbox of an Asian restaurant. Other members are filmed discussing attacking a mosque and fire bombing a vehicle being used by anti-fascists.