Innocent victim of Oxford conflict

Riot police barred ticket-holders from getting to the event as they struggled to bring the jeering mob under control.

The crowd had gathered to protest the presence of Holocaust-denying historian David Irving and far-right BNP leader Nick Griffin at the Oxford Union, next door to the venue where Gilbert was due to perform.

The Cellar Bar lies on an alleyway which leads to the back entrance of the historic debating society, which police blocked just before doors to the show were due to open.

It left promoter Paddy Luscombe and the bar staff behind the cordon, while Gilbert and his audience were trapped in the street, with the anti-racist protesters.

Speaking from within the venue at the time, Luscombe said: ‘We’re literally stuck here. Every time anyone tries to move outside we’re getting set upon by the police pushing us back into the venue.

“The police are letting in Oxford Union members with tickets to see Griffin, but not any of our ticket-holders.

“We can literally see Rhod Gilbert, half our staff and countless ticket holders trapped between police and protesters, and all we can do is wait.

“It’s ironic that a row over free speech means the leader off the BNP gets to speak, but not a comedian.’

One comedy club punter said: ‘We were queuing outside when the police rushed up the alley after protesters trying to break into the Union. It was really quite frightening.’

Despite the police clampdown, about 20 demonstrators got into the union’s debating hall, where they staged a sit-down protest. The debate eventually began one-and-a-half hours late.

Griffin, who has a convicted for incitement to racial hatred, claimed of the protesters: ‘This a mob which would kill. I have seen them beat old men and women and try to kill them. Had they grown up in Nazi Germany they would have made splendid Nazis.’

Gilbert’s Who’s Eaten Gilbert’s Grape? show did eventually go ahead, much later than planned.

Published: 27 Nov 2007