SHOCKING RACIAL abuse of innocent students in York has raised fears of a strengthening BNP movement in the city.
The incidents, which took place last Sunday night in popular York nightspot Gallery, saw a group of local people shouting obscenities at one girl.
The thugs cornered and threatened another student later on in the night.
The men, who claimed to be members of the BNP, began what has been described by an onlooker as a “night of hate”.
They hurled profanities and racial slurs at one girl whilst she waited patiently in the queue with some friends.
When her companians tried to comfort the girl, the group cruelly mocked her.
They continued in an increasingly aggressive fashion, at times attempting to goad other people into making similarly racist remarks.
One witness told of how she was approached by one member who said: “Look at those f*cking p***s over there. They don’t belong in this country.”
The evening culminated with the gang cornering one student of an ethnic minority.
The thugs apparently made several threats against the student’s father, as well as suggesting that they would: “send him home”.
They also used many other racial jibes which are considered too offensive to print.
One witness to this disgusting behaviour had to be physically restrained and taken home from the nightclub in order to prevent him from physically confronting the aggressors.
Despite agreeing that the reports showed a side to York that many would like to pretend is not there, YUSU President Tim Ngwena told Vision that there is not very much that can be done if students do not report the incidents.
“The only thing we can do is make sure students tell YUSU. We have the ability to talk to bars in town, to make sure they are aware that there is a problem.”
Many people are certain that the abuse has a direct link to the rise in popularity of the BNP, who were elected to the Yorkshire seat at the European Parliament by Yorkshire this spring.
Luckily, the student population here in York is staying resolutely anti-fascist.
At Freshers’ Fair last week, over 250 signatures were collected on an anti-BNP petition for the York Vision backed campaign ‘The BNP do not speak for me.”
The campaign is being run by ex-YUSU President and now Labour candidate for York, James Alexander.