Probe into assault on BNP leader

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/8168265.stm

Version 0 of 1.

The British National Party leader Nick Griffin has made an assault claim to police after a man threw a pint of beer over him outside a pub.

The MEP was at The Falcon Inn in Painswick, Gloucestershire, on 11 July when there was an alleged confrontation involving a customer.

The BNP leader said a man "came at me with a pint glass" as he left the pub.

A Gloucestershire police spokesman said officers were investigating the complaint.

Mr Griffin told BBC News Online: "Someone is entitled to say 'I don't agree with you', but no one is entitled to throw a pint of beer at you.

"I don't necessarily expect them to lock him up and throw away the key. He just needs to learn to keep his ideas to within the law."

'Spouting lies'

The confrontation had been taken up by constituency Labour MP David Drew, who claimed in the House of Commons the "totally upstanding" man was given "one hell of a hiding" after the incident.

Mr Griffin said it was Mr Drew's intervention which prompted him to make the formal police complaint.

He said: "I was prepared to leave it at that, because it seemed a waste of police time.

"But when we get Labour MPs standing up in the House of Commons spouting downright lies I felt I had no choice."

A police spokesman said: "Yesterday afternoon we received a call from a 50-year-old male regarding an incident outside the Falcon Inn public house at which he had a drink thrown at him.

"Officers are investigating the incident."