Australian Jews, Muslims protest fascist

November 20, 2008

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) -- The leading bodies of the Jewish and Islamic communities in Australia are urging the country’s immigration minister to deny a visa to a British fascist leader.

Nick Griffin, the head of the far-right British National Party, plans to visit Australia in December.

Robert Goot, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told ABC radio on Thursday he had written to Immigration Minister Chris Evans, arguing that there is a “significant risk” that Griffin will vilify Australians or “incite discord” in the Australian community.

Griffin has a previous conviction for the incitement of racial hatred.

The Federation of Islamic Councils said this week it, too, was in the process of drafting a similar letter to Evans.

The Australian Protectionist Party, a far-right political party formed last year, invited Griffin to Australia, where he reportedly plans to speak on “the demographic genocide" caused by "large-scale immigration of people from the Third World."

Griffin, who has called the genocide of the Jews a “Holohoax,” was denied a visa to Australia in 1998. His new application will be carefully reviewed by the Immigration Department, according to a spokesman.

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