Peaceful demonstrators hospitalised by far right thug, Blackpool

Two peaceful demonstrators leaving Saturday’s Unite Against Fascism demonstration in Blackpool required hospital treatment for injuries received in an unprovoked attack from a politically-motivated thug.

Two young members of the Socialist Party were leaving the demonstration against the British National Party conference, when the attacker ran up behind them. The attacker shouted "Anti-Nazis are you?" before punching one demonstrator to the floor, leaving him with a broken nose, attacking the other demonstrator leaving cuts and bruises, and then running away. Both demonstrators subsequently needed hospital treatment.

A spokesperson for the Socialist Party said today:

"We condemn this unprovoked assault. Fortunately both our young members will be making a swift recovery. We thank members of the public and other demonstrators for coming to the support of these two peaceful young men. This will not deter us from continuing to oppose the far right and especially the British National Party."

The spokesperson further commented:

"The BNP claims that it is a mainstream political party on the side of the white working class. Then why has there been a series of physical attacks by far-right extremists on people opposing the BNP? Why are people walking down a Blackpool street attacked for their legitimate political beliefs at the same time as the BNP is holding its conference? This proves that whatever the BNP leadership like to claim publicly, their beliefs are attractive to violent hooligans. We will be taking further steps to counter right-wing extremists who take their inspiration from Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini."