BNP gives backing to Irish anti-immigration group

national | miscellaneous | news report Saturday February 16, 2002 17:31 by anti-fascist

"Many of our members here in the UK are Irish" - Nick Griffin leader of the fascist British National Party. Really? I thought you were supporters of loyalist death squads.

The British National Party has offered its vocal support to an Irish anti-immigration party, the Immigration Control Platform (ICP). The ICP, formed in 1998, seeks to curtail immigration and halt the entry of a growing nummber of asylum seekers into Ireland.

Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, has alledged frequent contact between himself and the ICP, which claims a paid -up membership of several thousand and many more supporters. The group laments the Geneva Convention declaring, "we must unshackle ourselves from it", and lobbies the government for tighter immigration control.

A leaflet distributed by the ICP in an area with a large number of asylum seekers was recently passed to the gardai with a view to prosecution for incitement of hatred. The leaflet urged people to join the ICP and "help stop the invasion and colonisation of Ireland".

It added a list of claims, including the notion that many asylum seekers were having fertility treatment in Irish hospitals because anyone born in the country is automatically entitled to citizenship.

The ICP has denied any association with the BNP, but Griffin has made his support clear. "We're aware of the good work they're doing and we're prepared to be involved," declared Griffin. "Many of our members here in the UK are Irish, and they're worried about what's happening in their homeland with regards to immigrants".