A NEWSPAPER for the Asian community has been removed from public display in Bury Town Hall, because it could offend the Pakistani community.

Asian News was removed by council chiefs following complaints by a number of Asians over the front page headline Vote Anti-Paki.

A spokesman for Bury Council said: "After the latest issue went on display last week we had a number of complaints about the front page headline and, whatever the intent of the newspaper, the headline clearly caused offence to a sizeable minority of customers visiting the reception and other parts of the town hall."

The article to which the offending headline refers is on Rochdale pensioner Thomas Michael Roche who is launching The Anti-Paki Party in time for the next General Election. The 65-year-old ex-soldier, who claims he is not a racist, has also, according to the report, changed his name by deed-poll to Mr Anti-Paki!

The free monthly newspaper can normally be picked up in the foyer of Bury Town Hall. But the latest issue has been taken off display and is available only on request.

Editor of the paper, who also wrote the article, Mr Steve Hammond said that he had received no complaints from readers

Mr Hammond said: "The headline does not reflect the view of the paper. What we are doing is exposing him. The headline is in quotes and the strapline underneath makes quite clear the paper's view

He added: "It is a case of shoot the messenger. But I appreciate the town hall's position. They are stuck in the middle and have to respond to complaints. I would urge people to read the article.

"The paper is mainly distributed through Asian outlets and we have received no complaints."

The council spokesman added: "We appreciate Asian News is a respectable journal serving the Asian community. We also appreciate that it is for the paper to exercise its own editorial judgement over stories like this. However, the town hall is a public place and we have a duty to ensure that people can visit us without the fear of being offended. With this in mind and in the light of these numerous complaints from people from a cross-section of our community, we have decided to remove the paper from view.

"A notice has been installed in its place advising customers that the paper is available from our reception staff."