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National Front Leader forced out of CAA protest against BBC coverage
The crowd chanted 'racist scum off our street'
December 14, 2021 14:30
The crowd chanted 'racist scum off our street'
December 14, 2021 14:30The leader of a far-right movement was hounded out of a Campaign against antisemitism event outside Broadcasting House last night.
Tony Martin, the leader of racist political party The National Front was present at the CAA’s protest against BBC bias in central London last night. A crowd had gathered to voice their criticism of The BBC after their coverage of the Oxford St. Chanukah antisemitism incident.
Gideon Falter, the CEO of Campaign Against Antisemitism addressed the crowd from a podium just off Oxford Street and accused the BBC of turning the story ‘into a circus’ for alleging that the victims of antisemitic abuse used a racial slur towards Muslims during the course of the attack.
Halfway through Mr. Falter’s speech, several protestors in the crowd recognised Tony Martin, who was filming the event, and drew the attention of Mr. Falter.
Stopping his remarks, Falter, told Martin to ‘clear off’ repeatedly, and saying to the crowd, ‘we don’t want the national front here, you’re not welcome.’
Tonight, the chairman of the far-right National Front was identified in the crowd, filming our rally. As soon as he was spotted he was immediately ejected by the CAA team and the crowd. #RacistScumOffOurStreets! pic.twitter.com/9fzqvMYhW2
— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) December 13, 2021
The crowd then began to chant ‘racist scum, off our street’ as Martin made his way out of the crowd, trying to leave via the BBC building, only to be redirected by security staff.
During his address to the crowd, Mr. Falter accused the BBC of blaming Jews for the attack on the first night of Chanukah. He said: “We don’t want to be here, but we have to be here, because we have to say: ‘BBC News, stop blaming Jews’
“We see no evidence for the BBC’s claim, which is a distraction from the real story, which is that Jewish teenagers were prevented by racist thugs from celebrating Chanukah.”
Supporters of the event included Dame Maureen Lipman and Lord Grade, former chairman of the BBC who described the journalism around the incident as ‘shoddy.’
Other speakers included Fiyaz Mughal, the founder of Muslims against antisemitism who said: “It’s sad we have to come out here again, when Jews are blamed by institutions that we think we should have trust in.”
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Tonight’s rally sends a message to the BBC that the Jewish community has had enough of years of the BBC victim-blaming Jewish people for antisemitism, downplaying racism towards Jews, platforming antisemites and fuelling antisemitism in Britain.”