'Self-proclaimed Nazi' goes on trial over rallies in northern England

Source: Guardian


Defendant is charged with stirring up racial hatred at far-right demonstrations in Blackpool and North Yorkshire
Frances Perraudin North of England reporter

@fperraudin
Tue 2 Jan ‘18 13.28 EST

An alleged self-proclaimed Nazi has appeared in court charged with stirring up racial hatred at two far-right demonstrations in Blackpool and North Yorkshire.

The 22-year-old man from Lancashire, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at Preston crown court on Tuesday accused of breaching section 18 of the 1986 Public Order Act by using “threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour” intended to stir up hatred against Jewish people.

The charges relate to two speeches given by the defendant, the first in March 2016 at a demonstration by a group called North West Infidels in Blackpool and the second later the same year at a meeting of the Yorkshire Forum for Nationalists, attended by people from various far-right groups.

The jury was played a recording of the Blackpool demonstration in which a man could be heard describing Jewish people as “parasites” and arguing that Britain had taken the wrong side in the second world war. “We should have been fighting the communists,” he said. “Instead we took the side of the communists and fought the national socialists who were there to remove Jewry from Europe once and for all.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jan/02/self-proclaimed-nazi-goes-on-trial-over-rallies-in-northern-england