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— Demonstrators disrupted a forum at the venerable Oxford Union debating society Monday night but failed to stop an appearance by a far-right politician and a historian who denies the Holocaust.
Historian David Irving and British National Party leader Nick Griffin had been invited to the Oxford Union to debate free speech. But while the pair made it in to the building — bundled into the hall hours before the debate was to begin — nearly half of all ticket holding students were kept out by hundreds of protesters chanting slogans and yelling "shame on you."
Just minutes before the debate was to begin, about 20 demonstrators ran through the security cordon around the Union, scuffled with BNP activists and staged a sit-down protest in the hall.
The protesters were eventually persuaded to leave, and the debate went ahead more than an hour late with the speakers split into two groups for safety.
Liberal Democrat lawmaker Evan Harris, who spoke at the forum, complained that police had let the students storm the building.
James Thomson, 20, one of those who broke into the Union, said at least one protester was injured after being punched in the head.
"I was there proving my point that I'm a history student, and that David Irving is as much of an offense to history as to Jewish people," Thomson said.
Irving served 13 months in prison in Austria after his 2006 conviction on charges stemming from 1989 speeches in which he was accused of denying the Nazis exterminated 6 million Jews. He arrived at the forum carrying a ball and chain.
The Oxford Union debating society, while independent of Oxford University, is composed mainly of university students. Created in the 19th century, the prestigious debating hall has hosted a diverse group including Malcolm X, Richard Nixon, Charlton Heston and O.J. Simpson. Its Web site proudly touts its history "at the cutting edge of controversy."
Several student groups, including the Oxford Student Union and the university's Jewish and Muslim societies, had teamed up with activist group Unite Against Fascism to organize the protest.
"It's our way of showing that we all stand together ... opposed to racism, opposed to hate," said Steven Altmann Richer, the co-president of the Oxford University Jewish Society. "Obviously we think the issue of free speech is very important, but it's very irresponsible to use the Union's prestigious platform to lend legitimacy to the views of people like Nick Griffin and David Irving."
Union members voted Friday to allow the men to speak, despite calls to revoke the invitations. The union's president, Luke Tryl, has said he invited the men to talk about the limits of free speech, not to expound on their views.
"The reason the Oxford Union was founded 184 years ago was to promote and defend freedom of speech. This is what this debate is about," Tryl told Sky News on Sunday. "It is about an opportunity to challenge David Irving and Nick Griffin."
Irving has refused to use the term Holocaust, calling it a concept that "became cleverly marketed."
Griffin runs a party that campaigns on a fiercely anti-immigration and anti-Muslim platform.
Conservative lawmaker Julian Lewis, who addressed the Union last week in a debate on terrorism, said the students should be ashamed of themselves. In a letter to the Union's officers and standing committee, Lewis said he was resigning his life membership "with great sadness."
"Nothing which happens in Monday's debate can possibly offset the boost you are giving to a couple of scoundrels who can put up with anything except being ignored," he wrote.
Last week, several lawmakers, including British Defense Secretary Des Browne, canceled speaking engagements at the Union because they said they found it inappropriate to speak in the same place.
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