Date: 11/26/07

Protesters Disrupt Oxford Debating Society Forum with Holocaust Denier

By MATT DUNHAM
Associated Press Writer

OXFORD, England (AP) Demonstrators broke into the venerable Oxford Union debating society Monday night, sitting on the head table to disrupt a forum featuring a far-right politician and a historian who denies the Holocaust.

At least 200 protesters chanted anti-fascist slogans and waved placards opposing the appearance of historian David Irving and British National Party leader Nick Griffin at a debate on free speech.

The two men were bundled into the hall hours before the forum was to begin as protesters yelled "Keep Oxford fascist-free! We will defend democracy!" at the noisy gathering.

Just minutes before the debate was to start, a group of protesters broke through the security cordon around the Union and pushed their way into the debate hall where they staged a sit-down protest. The protesters also scuffled with BNP activists.

James Thomson, 20, one of those who broke into the Union, said at least one protester was injured after being punched in the head.

"I was there proving my point that I'm a history student, and that David Irving is as much of an offense to history as to Jewish people," Thomson said.

After a delay of about an hour and a half, the debate finally got under way at about 10 p.m.,

Irving served 13 months in prison in Austria after his 2006 conviction on charges stemming from 1989 speeches in which he was accused of denying the Nazis exterminated 6 million Jews. He arrived at the forum carrying a ball and chain.

The Oxford Union debating society, while independent of Oxford University, is composed mainly of university students. Created in the 19th century, the prestigious debating hall has hosted a diverse group including Malcolm X, Richard Nixon, Charlton Heston and O.J. Simpson. Its Web site proudly touts its history "at the cutting edge of controversy."

Several student groups, including the Oxford Student Union and the university's Jewish and Muslim societies, had teamed up with activist group Unite Against Fascism to organize the protest.

"It's our way of showing that we all stand together ... opposed to racism, opposed to hate," said Steven Altmann Richer, the co-president of the Oxford University Jewish Society. "Obviously we think the issue of free speech is very important, but it's very irresponsible to use the Union's prestigious platform to lend legitimacy to the views of people like Nick Griffin and David Irving."

Union members voted Friday to allow the men to speak, despite calls to revoke the invitations. The union's president, Luke Tryl, has said he invited the men to talk about the limits of free speech, not to expound on their views.

"The reason the Oxford Union was founded 184 years ago was to promote and defend freedom of speech. This is what this debate is about," Tryl told Sky News on Sunday. "It is about an opportunity to challenge David Irving and Nick Griffin."

Irving has refused to use the term Holocaust, calling it a concept that "became cleverly marketed."

Griffin runs a party that campaigns on a fiercely anti-immigration and anti-Muslim platform.

Conservative lawmaker Julian Lewis, who addressed the Union last week in a debate on terrorism, said the students should be ashamed of themselves. In a letter to the Union's officers and standing committee, Lewis said he was resigning his life membership "with great sadness."

"Nothing which happens in Monday's debate can possibly offset the boost you are giving to a couple of scoundrels who can put up with anything except being ignored," he wrote.

Last week, several lawmakers, including British Defense Secretary Des Browne, canceled speaking engagements at the Union because they said they found it inappropriate to speak in the same place.

But Liberal Democrat lawmaker Evan Harris, who is billed to speak at the event, said banning Griffin and Irving would risk turning "bigots into martyrs."

"It is the views of these extremists which are a disgrace, not their right to hold their views," he said.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.