London: Anti-fascist demonstrators scuffled with police on Friday in a protest against Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who brought his film denouncing Islam to Britain`s august House of Lords.
Wilders, riding an electoral wave in the Netherlands based on his anti-immigration populism, screened the film to about 60 people, including a half-dozen peers, in a wood-panelled committee room in Parliament. Outside dozens of protesters jeered and chanted "Fascist thugs off our streets!"
The visit, and the controversy surrounding it, added to Wilders` visibility as he heads into a national election campaign with his popularity soaring and polls predicting that his come-from-nowhere Freedom Party will be among the two largest in the next Dutch Parliament.
His party scored a stunning success in local elections this week, winning one city outright and placing second in another. But because his party is new and lacks a national organisation, it declined to field candidates in nearly 400 other town hall races.
The protest by Unite Against Fascism was countered by a rival demonstration further down the River Thames of more than 100 people from the English Defence League, a self-described "counter-jihad" movement with links to Britain`s far-right.
Police wrestled with anti-fascist protesters trying to block a street in front of the Parliament building, piling many of them into a double-decker bus.
PTI
