TIMES ONLINE: British National Party's election campaign descends into violence as a top official is filmed attacking an Asian man
The British National Party’s election campaign descended into violence yesterday when one of its top officials was filmed attacking an Asian man. Robert Bailey, the far-right party’s group leader at Barking and Dagenham Council, was shown punching the man and trying to kick him in the head. Mr Bailey had retaliated after he was spat on during canvassing.
Earlier The Times revealed that the head of the party’s online operation had resigned, taking its website down with him. Simon Bennett directed BNP traffic to his personal site, which contained a diatribe against Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, and other senior figures. A day before the election, Mr Bennett, 41, depicted an amateur operation and an organisation that, he claimed, wasted membership fees and donations. He accused Mr Griffin and James Dowson, the BNP election fundraiser, of being “pathetic, desperate and incompetent”.
It is understood that Mr Bennett took the website down briefly on Tuesday afternoon. It was reactivated quickly, but his comments had already gone viral on a number of websites. >>> Fiona Hamilton, London Correspondent | Thursday, May 06, 2010