I am not a Nazi, insists BNP leader Nick Griffin
British National Party leader Nick Griffin has denied he is a Nazi during his controversial first appearance on the BBC1 discussion programme Question Time.
During the recording he claimed he was "loathed" by Nazis in Britain because of the direction he had taken the far-right party.
At one pointed he taunted Justice Secretary Jack Straw, saying his own father had served in the RAF during the Second World War while Mr Straw's father had been in prison for "refusing to fight Hitler".
Asked by presenter David Dimbleby if he had ever denied the Holocaust, he replied: "I do not have a conviction for Holocaust denial."
Mr Griffin, 50, shared the platform with Justice Secretary Jack Straw, Tory peer Baroness Warsi, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne and writer Bonnie Greer.
The MEP was criticised by a number of audience members, with one man branding his views as "disgusting" and accusing him of "poisoning politics". Another man suggested derisively that he should be consigned to the South Pole where "the colourless landscape will suit you".
Following the recording, a spokesman for BBC journalism said the programme had covered a "wide range of issues", including race, freedom of speech, and whether Question Time had given the BNP "an early Christmas present".
"In particular there were lively exchanges on topics such as whether the BNP had hijacked Churchill, on the panel's views of Islam and whether the rise of the BNP is the result of the Government's immigration policy," the spokesman said. "The programme will demonstrate that the audience were able to provide strong scrutiny of all the panel members and what they stand for. A full audience attended the making of the programme and there were no protests in the studio."
The Metropolitan Police said there were six arrests at the protest, on suspicion of offences including violent disorder, causing actual bodily harm, assault of a police officer and a person wanted on warrant.
A London Ambulance Service spokesman said three people were treated and discharged for minor injuries during the protest. A Scotland Yard spokesman said three police officers were injured, one of whom was treated by paramedics for head injuries but did not require hospital treatment.
