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THE MAN the police have charged with the horrific nail bomb attacks has connections with John Tyndall, the leader of the Nazi British National Party. Just three days after the BNP election broadcast was shown on the BBC, and within days of post office management instructing workers to deliver Nazi election leaflets, the Mirror broke the story that David Copeland was a member of the Nazi BNP.
The day Copeland was charged with the murder of the three victims of the Soho bombing, the police denied any Nazi connections. David Veness, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, went on record saying, "There is no suggestion that the arrest is linked in any way to the extreme right groups that have been reportedly claiming responsibility for these attacks. The man is not a member of any of the groups."
Why were the police so quick to say that Copeland was "a loner"? If a Mirror journalist could uncover Copeland's Nazi connections, why couldn't the police? The Mirror revealed that Copeland was a member of the BNP's East London branch-hardly a loner. He stood by Tyndall's side at the BNP's AGM in a pub in Stratford, east London, in September 1997. Copeland was in good company. Tyndall has criminal convictions for terror dating back to the 1960s.
Copeland's connections make shocking news. After the Brixton bomb went off, anti-racists were dismissed when they told the police the bomb was a Nazi inspired attack. Now that the truth is out will the BBC apologise for allowing Tyndall to say unchallenged on Radio 4 that the BNP was "against the bombings"? Will the BBC apologise for broadcasting a BNP Euro election advert on Friday of last week?
Millions of people were shocked to see the faces of Nazi Tyndall and his sidekick Nick Griffin beamed into their living rooms. Tyndall and his Nazi gang should have been in a police station answering questions about their connection with Copeland, not on television. Yet the BBC had the nerve to tell the 850 people who phoned up to complain that the BNP had a right to its hate broadcast. Tell that to the relatives of the three people-Andrea Dykes and her friends John Light and Nik Moore-blown to bits by the Soho bomb. Tell that to Andrea's husband, Julian, who has just found out his wife and friends are dead.
Incredibly, there is a real chance that the friends and relatives of the dead and injured may get a letter from the BNP through their doors this week. Royal Mail bosses are trying to force postal workers to deliver 15 million BNP Euro election leaflets to homes across Britain.
Every time the BNP stands in elections the number of racist attacks increases. When the Nazi BNP book shop opened in Welling in Kent racist attacks went up by a staggering 210 percent. Allowing the Nazis to distribute their election material will only give confidence to racist thugs to carry out more attacks.
To their great credit many postal workers are refusing to act as BNP propaganda agents. Every postal worker, black and white, should demand that their CWU union branches make a stand against the BNP and against bullying management, and tell members not to touch the Nazi mail. Every other trade unionist and anti-racist should back the postal workers and rush messages of support to them.
The Nazi nail bombs provoked a massive anti-racist response from workers everywhere. Black and white, gay and straight, protested and marched. That mood needs to be built on. Everyone must make sure not one piece of Nazi mail is delivered.
Thanks to Socialist Worker