Convicted Holocaust denier David Irving had to leave Norway after police said they could not guarantee his safety.

Demonstrators from SOS Racism, a French anti-racism group, had attempted to block his entrance to an Oslo television station where he was due to give an interview on Tuesday last week. Irving had to use a back door to enter the building.

He had also hoped to attend the Norwegian Festival of Literature in Lillehammer, despite the withdrawl of his invitation to speak there. Norwegian Holocaust Centre director Odd Bjorn Fure called the invitation a “major failure and bad judgment”.