Protesters besiege BBC studios over far-rightist TV appearance

Hundreds of angry demonstrators besieged the BBC's television studios on Thursday to protest against a planned appearance by the leader of the far-right British National Party on a flagship political program.

A small number of protesters burst into the television center in West London, dodging a heavy security cordon, but were escorted out, a BBC spokeswoman said.

Some 400 demonstrators, brandishing placards reading "Stop the Fascist BNP" and shouting "Smash the BNP" protested outside.

BNP leader Nick Griffin has been invited to appear as a panelist on the BBC's Question Time debate show due to be recorded at the center later on Thursday.

The first appearance by a far-right politician on a program regularly watched by three million people has aroused strong reactions, with anti-racism groups arguing the BNP should not be given a platform and others backing it on free speech grounds.

Mark Thompson, director-general of the publicly funded BBC, defended the decision, saying it was based purely on support for the BNP at the ballot box in recent elections and that it was up to politicians to bar parties.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the choice of panelists was a matter for the BBC but added that he thought Griffin's appearance would backfire on the right-wing party.

"At every point, I believe we have got a duty to expose the BNP for what are racist and sectarian politics," Brown told a local radio station on a visit to northern England.

"Anybody who listens to what they are really about will find that what they are saying is unacceptable."

Justice Secretary Jack Straw, a ruling Labour Party heavyweight, will join the panel to debate with Griffin, reversing Labour's previous refusal to share a platform with the extreme right.

The BNP, which calls for a halt to immigration and Britain's withdrawal from the European Union and seeks to encourage voluntary repatriation of immigrants, won two seats in the European Parliament in elections in June.

It has no seats in the national parliament but will field hundreds of candidates in a general election due by next June. The mainstream parties fear it could siphon off voters angered by deep recession and a scandal over lawmakers' expenses.

In a letter to supporters on the BNP's web site, Griffin said his appearance on the program would be a "milestone in the indomitable march of the British National Party towards saving our country."

Some political commentators have noted that Jean-Marie Le Pen, veteran leader of France's far-right National Front, used his TV debut on a similar French political show in 1984 to bolster support and recognition.

Diane Abbott, Britain's first black woman MP, said Griffin's appearance was "wrong and offensive."

"What it does is it sanitizes them, that's what it does, that's why it's wrong," she told the BBC.

Griffin will answer audience questions in a panel with Straw, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne, Conservative community cohesion spokeswoman Sayeeda Warsi and U.S. writer Bonnie Greer.