Black Country News: BNP 4 to be 'red carded' SANDWELL: Protests planned as councillors attend meeting.

Byline: by Gurdip Thandi

ANTI-racism campaigners aim to show British National Party councillors the red card when they attend their first full authority meeting tomorrow.

The Black Country Unite Against Fascism group will stage the protest outside Sandwell Council House, in Oldbury, as BNP councillors Jim Lloyd, Russell Green, Simon Smith and Carl Butler arrive for the 6pm meeting.

Campaigners will dish out red coloured cards to passers-by outside the Church Street council house.

The BNP quadrupled its number of Sandwell councillors in this year's local elections in May with Coun Green joining Coun Lloyd, who was elected in 2004, in the Princes End ward.

Coun Smith claimed a seat in Great Bridge while Coun Butler was elected in Tividale.

A spokesman for the campaigners said: "Four BNP councillors will go to a full council meeting tomorrow and we want to show them the red card.

"The BNP is a racist organisation that follows in the same political traditions of Hitler and the Nazis.

"Hitler blamed the Jews to win power whereas the BNP blame asylum seekers and Asians to win votes."

But Coun Lloyd said: "I am certainly not a racist or a fascist.

"We have been freely elected and voted in by the people of Sandwell through a democratic process.

"This protest is more of a fascist act than a democratic one as we went through a fair election and it certainly won't stop us doing our job."

Coun Lloyd added he and his BNP colleagues had been given places on "lesser" committees such as the Employment Appeal and the Policy and Performance Scrutiny panels.

He said: "We wanted something on the planning side so we can oversee the decisions being made and where money is being spent, such as The Public which has been a huge white elephant. But this is just the start at the moment."