Dousing the dying embers of the EDL
BBC programme makers pay English Defence League leader's air fare - Telegraph.co.uk
However, the BBC confirmed that The Big Question, which is produced on the corporations behalf by Mentorn Media, had indeed agreed to cover his travel costs.
A BBC spokesman said: “On the weekend that the EDL and far-right groups are holding a rally in Denmark, the moral and ethical debate programme, The Big Questions, will be asking if Britain is too complacent about the Far Right. Contributors travel costs are covered as standard by Mentorn Media who produce The Big Questions. As a key contributor to this particular discussion, Stephen Lennon's travel from Denmark is entirely necessary and reasonable. We are not paying him a fee for his appearance”.
The cost of the ticket is understood within the programme's budget and not an additional cost to the BBC. However, as the commissioners of the programme, its budget is ultimately financed by licence payers.
The “European Counter-Jihad Meeting" was attended by less than 300 activists, drawn from the Danish, Norwegian, German, Finnish and Polish Defence Leagues, as well groups like Stop Islamisation of Europe.
Supporters of the the EDL and its European sister organisations were outnumbered by a factor of more than 10-to-one by a parallel demonstration organised by anti-fascist and Left-wing campaigners.
The anti-fascist demonstration drew as many as 5,000, according to Jørn Andersen, one of the organisers.
“We don’t need that many people,” Mr Lennon retorted. “When we first started out in England we were outnumbered by the anti-fascists.”
“We have come to plant a seed. That seed will go back to every European country and it will develop across Europe."
He said that the EDL planned to follow the demo in Aarhus with further rallies in Paris and Brussels as well.
Booked at late notice, a Ryanair flight from Aarhus to London Stanstead is likely to have cost between £50 and £100.
The city of Aarhus was notorious ten years ago for regular clashes between local neo-Nazi groups and Denmark’s militant Left, and the two demonstrations were kept apart by a large police presence.
“It is one of the largest operations we’ve ever had in Jutland,” Bent Preben Nielsen, chief inspector of the Aarhus police, said.
A small group of anti-fascist campaigners who attempted to enter the park chanting when Stephen Lennon began to speak were rapidly blocked.
Police arrested 82 Left-wing activists after they attempted to enter the square where the counter-jihad meeting was held, leaving four police officers with minor injuries.