NATIONAL FRONT PLANS CITY WAR DEMO on 5th

The National Front has claimed that it will attempt to halt an anti-war demonstration in Derby city centre next month.

The right-wing organisation claims that there will be a major anti-war demonstration on Saturday, January 5, and that between 50 and 100 National Front members will travel to Derby to prevent it.

John Reynolds, spokesman for the National Front in the East Midlands, said: "There will be an anti-war demonstration on January 5, but I can't divulge the source of that information.

"We will be mounting a counter-demonstration. We'll find out the route it will take and block it."

But Derbyshire police maintain they were unaware of any demonstrations taking place on January 5, despite claims by the National Front that it had "informed a detective at Derby police".

Derbyshire police spokeswoman Jill Walden said: "We're not aware of it, but we will make inquiries.

"But the National Front is a legal group - there's nothing illegal about being a member."

Martin Sear, spokesman for the Derby group of Stop the War Coalition, said that his group had been contemplating holding a demonstration in Derby on that date.

He said: "We had been planning to hold it in the Market Place on January 5, but we were told that it would not be available, so we decided to postpone it.

"My initial reaction to what the National Front has said is that it is appalling. I don't want the National Front in Derby. Like all these organisations, what they hope for and what they do are not always the same."