SALFORD REMEMBRANCE SERVICE SCARRED
SALFORDIANS SICK AT SIGHT OF GRIFFIN LAYING WREATH
At yesterday’s Cenotaph Service of Remembrance in Salford, residents were horrified to see British National Party leader Nick Griffin step forward from the crowd to lay a wreath.
“I was disgusted” said one woman who was there with her RAF boyfriend to pay respect to those who died fighting fascism “It was sick”
First Nick Griffin shows up in Irlam to `comfort’ victims of the gas explosion. Then he turns up at the Cenotaph laying a wreath on Remembrance Sunday which angered and upset many people present.
“Out of the crowd stepped BNP leader and convicted criminal Nick Griffin, with a platoon of scowling shaven-headed thugs, to lay a BNP wreath” said one witness “Surely everyone involved – the Mayor of Salford, the British Legion – could have taken steps to ensure the memory of those who died trying to halt the Holocaust might not be defiled by the presence of those who would repeat it?”
We asked the Mayor of Salford, Councillor George Wilson, for his reaction to Griffin’s presence at the Cenotaph, and whether he thought it was an insult to those who had fought and died opposing fascism.
“Even though Nick Griffin was there, nobody seemed to know who he was” the Mayor told us “As for him being there, every citizen has the right to lay a wreath at the Cenotaph.”
Meanwhile, BNP hoardings have been stuck on Salford Council’s lamp posts in Charlestown, as the BNP tries to build in the city famed for its trade union and ant-fascist traditions.
The Mayor has since “informed the appropriate department to take action” in removing the BNP lamp post propaganda.
Salford City Council Leader, John Merry added: “Mr Griffin was not welcome in Salford and the BNP’s attempt to politicise the Remembrance Ceremony was met with disgust. The BNP spent the two minutes of silence filming their leader, clearly not caring about the ordinary Salford people.”
From The Salford Star. 15.11.10
To be fair, his father was in the R.A.F and served during the war, so he does have as much right as anyone to pay his respects.
However, if he snuck into the official rememberence service and elbowed his way to the front, so that he could use this as a photo-op and to cultivate patriotic sentiments for his own sinister purposes, then that is wrong.
And remember, WWII was about fighting German nationalists (not the holocaust btw) and so it fits in with his British nationalism.