Today's demonstration at the London Coliseum. Photograph: Frank Baron
It's a strange day when a coachload of BNP members organise a jaunt to the ballet but, then, today's been a strange day. As anti-fascist protestors picketed London's Coliseum to protest at dancer Simone Clarke, outed by the Guardian just before Christmas as a closet member of the BNP, the party was out in force to meet them. Up to 40 had - or so they claimed - bought tickets and would be cheering her on from the audience. Richard Barnbrook, BNP councillor for Barking and Dagenham, admitted that he wasn't exactly a regular (and for once, I believe him), but insisted that he was there to "[support] her freedom of expression".
A slightly nastier taste of what that "freedom" might entail emerged when Mr Barnbrook suggested that, while he had no objection to Clarke's relationship with her Cuban-Chinese partner Yat-Sen Chang, he did have a few qualms about their children - "washing out the identity of this country's indigenous people", apparently. Classy.
Anyway, inside the audience there ensued plenty of scuffling, an overture nearly drowned out by shouting and - this being the ballet - a whole lot of "ssshing". Our intrepid reporter, Matthew Taylor, was there to catch up on the action. He'll be writing about it in tomorrow's paper, but in the meantime have a listen to what exactly went on.
Listen to the audio report on your computer now (MP3) by clicking here.
