The leader of the far-right party was in Church Street with other members calling for British troops to be brought home from Iraq and Afghanistan when they were confronted by members of the Merseyside Unite Against Fascism group.
Mr Griffin, elected to the European Parliament as a North West MEP last year, scarpered as the number of protectors swelled to more than 100, while around 20 police officers stood between the rival groups.
The protestors chanted anti-Nazi slogans through megaphones while the BNP manned their stalls and tried to shout over the chants coming from the impromptu demonstration.
Alan Brown, regional co-ordinator for Merseyside Unite Against Fascism, said there had been no forewarning that Mr Griffin would be in town. It is not known if his appearance was meant to coincide with the Liberal Democrat conference being held at the Echo Arena.
Mr Brown said: “Nick Griffin thinks that because he was elected by two pet cent of the electorate that he can come here and spread his message of hate, but I think you can see from the amount of people on the demo that we don’t want him in our city and he does not represent people in the North West.”
Demonstrators of all ages and backgrounds chanted “BNP off our streets! Nazi scum off our streets!” as the extremist party’s members tried in vain to give out their propaganda in the pouring rain.
Liverpool Echo
