ZERO-tolerance of trouble-makers in Burnley will be adopted at this week's full council meeting, police have warned.
Nine people were arrested in May after violence erupted outside Burnley Town Hall as the British National Party's councillors attended their first meeting.
People were left with bloodied faces and councillors were pelted with eggs and flour during ugly scenes before the far right members took their seats in the council chamber.
Protesters from the Anti Nazi League gathered opposite BNP supporters outside the town hall before the meeting. However, following the successful policing of the weekend Anti-Nazi League rally, police have pledged to keep up the pressure on potential trouble-makers.
Superintendent Steve Hartley, Operations Manager for Pennine Police, said: "Unfortunately, events like the Unity Demonstration and full council meetings can attract extremists from all sides ,as well as people utilising their democratic right to demonstrate peacefully.
"Our first priority is always public safety which is why, when we have reason to suspect there may be people intent on causing trouble at these events, we deploy extra officers.
"Which party or body those trouble makers belong to is a matter of fact. What I must reiterate is that as a police service we are always a-political and objective. Our job is simply to uphold the peace and we will always do our very best to achieve that."
Superintendent Hartley said: "As a result of an incident outside the Town Hall at the last council meeting, there will be an even larger police presence in Burnley on Wednesday evening. A detailed plan was in place for the last meeting and was based on intelligence and previous precedence whereby no violence had occurred.
"Nevertheless our interventions at the last meeting certainly quelled any potential for escalation into wider disorder. A small number of people who had secreted themselves nearby led to a short but serious confrontation and we will not tolerate this type of behaviour, particularly in a town where tensions are easily influenced by events."
"We want to send a very clear message to potential troublemakers of any affiliation that there is no room for violent behaviour or disorder in Burnley. Any deliberate acts of violence, including attacks by one group on another no matter how trivial they may seem to some, will be dealt with both promptly and firmly."
Special "evidence gatherers" will also be on patrol for the duration of the council meeting, filming protesters and taking footage of any skirmishes so that offenders can easily be identified.
Burnley MP Peter Pike said: "Any protest must be non-violent. The BNP councillors have been democratically elected and have a right to sit on the council. They will be judged by what they achieve there."
The party's eight councillors are the largest group the far-right party has held in any form of government in this country.
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