AN East Lancashire Peer has called on the Government to act against a right wing website which tries to identify local left wing opponents.
Lord Tony Greaves raised the issue of the internet site Red Watch, which includes photographs and details of anti-Nazi protesters objecting to the activities of the British National Party in Burnley and opponents at the group's rallies in Sawley.
He asked Home Office Minister Baroness Scotland what action the Government intended to take "to deal with threats and intimidation arising from websites which provide personal details of active opponents of fascists and racist parties" during Questions in the House of Lords.
Liberal Democrat Lord Greaves, a former Pendle councillor said: "The website I am concerned about, Red Watch, was set up about two years ago by Combat 18, a Nazi hit group.
"A great deal of material upon the website appears to be posted on it and sent to it by active and leading members of the British National Party.
"The material consists of more than 1,000 photographs of anti-Nazi, anti-racist activists with their addresses, telephone numbers and, where applicable, car registration numbers."
He asked Baroness Scotland: "Will you tell us whether the Government is devoting sufficient resources to this particular problem which quite clearly involves breaches of the law, incitement to violence against individuals and their property and incitement to racial hatred?
"This is a serious matter. Just because the people concerned are on the left does not mean that they deserve less protection than if they were businessmen or other people."
The Baroness said she had discussed the matter with the police, the Information Commissioner and the Internet Watch Foundation who were all aware of such websites.
She said: "I confirm that all proper steps will be taken if any person is found to be in breach of the law. The difficulty that we have experienced is that operators of certain websites have sought to avoid over-stepping the conduct that the legislation defines us criminal.
"We are currently working on an electronic crime strategy that will include the consideration of issues such as these.
"We do not believe that the absence of charges so far against any particular website has yet established that we need new offences or safeguards. However the matter will be kept under close scrutiny."
After the exchange Lord Greaves welcomed the Baroness's comments and said: "I've not appeared on the website myself yet although I may do after this intervention in Parliament.
"However the Red Watch website has special sections on Burnley and Sawley.
"Both of them have pictures of people that I know either protesting at BNP action in Burnley or the two rallies held at Sawley by the BNP in September 2002 and August last year.
"So far they seem to have had difficulty in getting names and addresses for the East Lancashire protesters and I don't want to make matters worse by saying who the people I recognise on the pictures on the website are."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article