London - The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was at the centre of a row Thursday over the planned appearance of a far- right party leader on its flagship TV discussion programme. Hours before the filming of the prestigious Question Time programme hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside BBC headquarters in west London, vowing to stop Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party (BNP) from reaching the studios.
However, the BBC reported that Griffin had gained access to the building through a back entrance for the recording of the programme, scheduled to be broadcast at 2135 GMT.
Scuffles broke out as about 25 protestors broke through police barriers and entered the reception area. They were dragged out of the hall by police and security staff, and there were several arrests.
Large crowds of protestors blocked the main access road to BBC headquarters, known as Television Centre.
Griffin, 50, was due to appear on Question Time, a discussion programme in which questions are put to a panel by an invited audience.
In an interview with BBC television, Griffin described the protests as "disgraceful." The demonstrators were planning to deprive "millions of viewers" of what his party had to say.
But the crowd outside yelled: "We are black, white, Asian and Jew, BBC shame on you, we won't let Nick Griffin through."
The BBC said banning the 50-year-old BNP leader would amount to "censorship" after the party won two seats to the European parliament in June.
"The case against inviting the BNP to appear on Question Time is a case for censorship," said BBC director general Mark Thompson. "Censorship cannot be outsourced to the BBC or anyone else."
It was up to the government to ban political parties, added Thompson.
Earlier, an appeal by Labour cabinet minister Peter Hain to withdraw the invitation was rejected by a special BBC panel.
"The BBC are in total denial about their giving a massive early Christmas present to the BNP, who are glorying in their appearance on Question Time," Hain said.
Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman attacked the BNP's "apartheid constitution," stipulating that only those of an "ethnic origin" described as "indigenous Caucasian" can become party members.
Critics fear that Griffin's participation in the programme could boost his party's appeal, as happened with Jean-Marie Le Pen's rightwing National Front party in France in the 1980s.
"Once you treat them as equal amongst the others they gain ground, we saw that in Nazi Germany," said Hain, a veteran anti-apartheid campaigner.
Ahead of the screening, Griffin told BNP supporters that his appearance on the political discussion programme presented an "unprecedented chance" to present their views to the British public.
"I will, no doubt, be interrupted, shouted down, slandered, put on the spot, and subjected to a scrutiny that would be a thousand times more intense than anything directed at other panellists," Griffin wrote.
"It will, in other words, be political blood sport. But I am relishing this opportunity."
Other participants on the programme are US playwright Bonnie Greer, British Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne and Sayeeda Warsi, a Pakistani-born spokeswoman for community cohesion for the opposition Conservative Party.
The BNP, whose forerunner was the National Front, has an openly racist platform. Griffin has publicly denied the Holocaust and in 2004, described Islam as a "wicked, vicious faith." Two years later, he was cleared of inciting racial hatred with his remark.
