madkins
Registered
BBC. Front Page
Last Updated: Thursday, 27 May, 2004, 10:01 GMT 11:01 UK
BNP leaflets spark investigation
Elections to the European Parliament take place in June
An investigation has been launched into European election leaflets delivered through letterboxes by the British National Party.
A number of complaints have been made to Strathclyde Police claiming the leaflets are "insulting and abusive".
The procurator-fiscal's office in Glasgow is now studying the leaflets.
The BNP said it was free to distribute what it claimed was factual material and argued that there was nothing in the literature which broke the law.
The BNP, lik
many political parties, is distributing election material across Scotland in the run-up to the European elections on 10 June.
Examining material
The Glasgow charity, Positive Action in Housin
g, s
aid it had received 55 complaints about the leaflets, which show a Union Flag b
eing burnt by men of Arab extraction above claims of an "asylum time bomb".
Strathclyde Police said they had brought the matter to the attention of the procurator fiscal, who is examining the material and considering an investigation.
It is thought that other fiscals in Scotland may soon follow suit.
Solicitor advocate Gerry Brown said that the leaflets could contravene laws on inciting racial hatred or simply cause such alarm or distress that they committed a breach the peace.
I think this is a total waste of police time and a big fuss about nothing
Steve Blake
BNP
He said: "I would have thought that with something as important as this - with the impact on loca
l communities - it is almost certain that the procurator fiscal's office in Glasgow will refer the enquiries and reports to the Lord Advocate in Edinburgh."
One woman who received the le
aflet told B
BC Scotland: "I was almost too upset to read it. I was very shocked and felt it was an incitement to racial hatred."
The woman complained to her local mail sorting office who told her that, due to election communication, no-one could prevent the leaflet from being posted.
Kay Hampton, of the Commission for Racial Equality in Scotland, encouraged people to report to the police any materials which "appear to encourage racial hatred".
'Fear and anxiety'
She added: "Elections should be a time for the fullest debate of the issues faced by people across Scotland, but that debate should be informed by fact and directed towards solutions.
"It should not be an occasion for peddling prejudice and stirring up and exploiting fear and a
nxiety."
The BNP's Steve Blake said there was nothing in the leaflet which broke the law.
"I think this is a total waste of police time," he went on.
"Th
e material was given
the OK by our team of legal experts so to be honest, I think this is a big fuss about nothing.
"We are clear that we do not advocate any kind of violent attack on anybody simply because of who th
ey are.
"The majority of people who are in the BNP and the vast majority of people who plan to vote for us, are law abiding, decent, hard-working British people."
Skara Brae,
madkins
Last Updated: Thursday, 27 May, 2004, 10:01 GMT 11:01 UK
BNP leaflets spark investigation
Elections to the European Parliament take place in June
An investigation has been launched into European election leaflets delivered through letterboxes by the British National Party.
A number of complaints have been made to Strathclyde Police claiming the leaflets are "insulting and abusive".
The procurator-fiscal's office in Glasgow is now studying the leaflets.
The BNP said it was free to distribute what it claimed was factual material and argued that there was nothing in the literature which broke the law.
The BNP, lik
many political parties, is distributing election material across Scotland in the run-up to the European elections on 10 June.
Examining material
The Glasgow charity, Positive Action in Housin
g, s
aid it had received 55 complaints about the leaflets, which show a Union Flag b
eing burnt by men of Arab extraction above claims of an "asylum time bomb".
Strathclyde Police said they had brought the matter to the attention of the procurator fiscal, who is examining the material and considering an investigation.
It is thought that other fiscals in Scotland may soon follow suit.
Solicitor advocate Gerry Brown said that the leaflets could contravene laws on inciting racial hatred or simply cause such alarm or distress that they committed a breach the peace.
I think this is a total waste of police time and a big fuss about nothing
Steve Blake
BNP
He said: "I would have thought that with something as important as this - with the impact on loca
l communities - it is almost certain that the procurator fiscal's office in Glasgow will refer the enquiries and reports to the Lord Advocate in Edinburgh."
One woman who received the le
aflet told B
BC Scotland: "I was almost too upset to read it. I was very shocked and felt it was an incitement to racial hatred."
The woman complained to her local mail sorting office who told her that, due to election communication, no-one could prevent the leaflet from being posted.
Kay Hampton, of the Commission for Racial Equality in Scotland, encouraged people to report to the police any materials which "appear to encourage racial hatred".
'Fear and anxiety'
She added: "Elections should be a time for the fullest debate of the issues faced by people across Scotland, but that debate should be informed by fact and directed towards solutions.
"It should not be an occasion for peddling prejudice and stirring up and exploiting fear and a
nxiety."
The BNP's Steve Blake said there was nothing in the leaflet which broke the law.
"I think this is a total waste of police time," he went on.
"Th
e material was given
the OK by our team of legal experts so to be honest, I think this is a big fuss about nothing.
"We are clear that we do not advocate any kind of violent attack on anybody simply because of who th
ey are.
"The majority of people who are in the BNP and the vast majority of people who plan to vote for us, are law abiding, decent, hard-working British people."
Skara Brae,
madkins