Concern over possible far-right presence at Keele University
Thomas J | 14.03.2003 20:20
Last year, "VOTE BNP" was scrawled over one of the residental blocks in a Halls of Residence in Keele. Over the months, other Nazi, racist and pro-war graffti has also appeared on the Keele campus.
Even more worring, a Garage music night at the Keele student's union, "Bling!" has been blighted by violence, usually between Hindu and Muslim groups on campus. Addtionally, a particular area within the halls is known to house most of the suspect people. Security gaurds and crowd saftey have been threatened at Bling!, and trouble makers have also been going into Keele from the nearby city of Stoke-on-Trent.
Posters on campus, and within the union building itself, advertising anti-war events, by the Amnesty International group and other left-wing groups on campus. Posters calling on students to leave lectures and attend a vigil in Stoke city centre if war on Iraq starts have also been torn down.
These indicents have escalated with the recent Stoke-on-Trent mayoral elections, where BNP candidate Steven Batkin got thrid place. The BNP are on the rise in Stoke-on-Trent, and have been called on to help with resident's concerns with asylum seekers in the deprived Tunstall area of Stoke, and are also targeting residents in Kuntton, a deprived part of the nearby town of Newcastle-under-Lyme.
It is then very likely that the BNP or another far-right group have been targeting Keele University, with its large number of Asian, black, and foreign students. It is also possible that Hindus on campus have been approached by the BNP to stir up conflict with the Muslims, a well-known BNP tactic, and that the BNP are unofficially organising a group on Keele in order to stir up racial tension, and to undermine the campaigns of anti-war groups on campus.
Thomas J
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