Churches welcome BBC exposure of BNP

The Churches' Commission for Racial Justice (CCRJ) has welcomed "the exposure of the true face of the British National Party's politics of bigotry and hate" in a BBC documentary, The Secret Agent, screened on Friday. the CCRJ said the film, secretly shot by undercover reporter Jason Gwynne, was "a courageous endeavour to maintain democracy and the struggle to build, support and promote harmonious multi-ethnic relationships in an inter-cultural Britain." Rev Arlington Trotman, Secretary of CCRJ, said: 'We have always believed that racist hate as a political stance, must find no accommodation in modern society. The BBC's film, The Secret Agent, has done much to alert the three quarters of one million people who voted in the recent Local and European elections for the BNP's vile and pernicious racism. This must be a shock for everyone who was not already aware of this racism. Surely law-abiding and decent Britons cannot support those whose object is to 'shoot' people, 'blow up' their places of worship, and who persistently use language that incites racist hatred and violence against Asian or Black, Muslim or Jewish people, while purporting to serve as representatives on local or national councils. Leader of the BNP Nick Griffin is heard in the film to say: 'If we get a riot out of it, we'll walk the election'." Rev Trotman said: "We urge the Government to protect Muslim communities from religious discrimination such as the BBC film reveals; to actively address the economic and social needs of the poor, including poor white communities across Britain, particularly in Yorkshire and the Humber, and to refrain from placing people seeking asylum in areas of the country least educationally, economically and socially prepared to received them. This breeds hate and provides oxygen for the far right."