19 arrested protesting BNP festival

CODNOR, England, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- Police arrested 19 protesters Saturday as the British National Party held a "festival of Britishness" in a Derbyshire village.

About 1,500 people showed up in Codnor to demonstrate against the BNP, The Mirror reported. Steve Cotterill, acting chief constable for the county, said the majority were peaceful, but a handful got involved in scuffles with police.

The three-day "Red, White and Blue" festival, celebrating the colors of the Union Jack, was held on a private farm. The Independent said the event resembled a church fair -- with a few twists.

At one booth, festival-goers could throw sponges at a man wearing an Osama bin Laden mask. At another, they were invited to knock down a traitor by heaving coconuts at pictures of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Justice Secretary Jack Straw and former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The BNP described Codnor as "the heart of a rural district whose ancient history and cultural heritage exemplify all that is steadfastly and typically Anglo-Saxon," although the village is near the industrial city of Nottingham.