Liverpool British National Party activist Peter Tierney has vowed to fight the continued police harassment against himself and the party in that city to the bitter end. Speaking to BNP News immediately after being informed by the Merseyside police this afternoon that he had been charged with assault, Mr Tierney said he was innocent and would prove it.

“This is what the BNP gets when it defends itself,” Mr Tierney said. “We were distributing leaflets on St George’s Day when the extremist leftists attacked us. We had to defend ourselves, along with our old folk and women, and now I get charged with assault. So this is how democracy works,” he said.

“What this means is that if the BNP dares to defend itself against the proven violence of the far left and its Labour and Tory-supported organisations, then we get charged.”

Mr Tierney said this turn of events was a gross miscarriage of justice, and that he would most certainly fight the matter right to the very end, no matter what the cost.

“The bail conditions mean that I am not allowed to enter the city, which is where my living is. They are denying me my right to earn my keep with these measures. This is nothing butt harassment.

“I am determined not to let the Merseyside police and the Tory and Labour-backed violent extremist leftists succeed in their plan to continue this harassment,” Mr Tierney said. “We are a growing force, and they have forgotten that we now have elected public representatives at the most senior level of government. We are not going to take this lying down.”

Mr Tierney thanked the 50 or so supporters — some of whom had travelled from as far away as Scotland to attend his hearing — who turned out to demonstrate opposite Liverpool’s St Anne’s police station this afternoon.

“I know some of them, like Steve Coulthard from Halifax and Derek Mills from Stirling, travelled a long way, and Liverpool BNP is proud to have firm friends and supporters like that,” he said. “I know it is an effort for people to take off work and get out here, but my friends have done it, and with the support of the whole BNP, we are determined to give these fascists a legal lesson which will put an end to this sort of nonsense once and for all,” Mr Tierney concluded.

* The new court date has been set for 5 August. See you all there.