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Ballerina sparks anti-fascist row

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Anti-fascist protesters demonstrated outside a London theater on Friday, shouting noisy slogans against a ballet dancer who belongs to a far-right political party.

Principal dancer Simone Clarke is playing Giselle for the English National Ballet at the London Coliseum.

Last month, Clarke, 36, was named by a newspaper as a member of the British National Party, and went on to give an interview defending her political beliefs.

She said she supports a crackdown on immigration despite the fact that her dance partner and boyfriend is a Cuban of Chinese descent.

She said: "Sometimes it feels as though the BNP are the only ones willing to take a stand.

"I have been labeled a racist and a fascist because I have a view on immigration, and I mean mass immigration, but isn't that something that a lot of people worry about?" she said.

"Everything will be different now. I will be known as the 'BNP ballerina.' I think that will stick with me for life. I'd rather it wasn't like that but I don't regret anything. I will stay a member."

Around 50 members of Unite Against Fascism stood in front of the London Coliseum in Covent Garden waving placards which declared: "Ballet Not Bigotry."

They chanted "Ballet should be Nazi-free" and "The BNP has got to go." Members also handed out leaflets to passers by headed "No to fascism and racism at the ballet".

They cited the example of Rene Blum, choreographer and founder of the Ballet de l'Opera in Monte Carlo, who died at Auschwitz in 1943.

Clarke attracted a high-profile supporter to the performance in the shape of Richard Barnbrook, BNP councilor for Barking and Dagenham.

"I don't normally go to the ballet but I'm going to support Simone Clarke. I'm supporting her freedom of expression."

He said of the demonstrators: "They have a democratic right to protest and the right to oppose us. But I find it really rather crude of them to take somebody who is a professional ballet dancer and say: 'You haven't got the right to do the job you're doing.'"

An English National Ballet spokeswoman said: "The English National Ballet fully supports the democratic right of people to mount a legal protest.

"However, it is not within the company's mandate to express any political view, and any personal view expressed by one of our employees should not be considered as endorsed by the company.

"We are proud of the company's ethnic and cultural diversity. The English National Ballet has a diverse mix of employees from a broad range of sectors in our society. Our dancers come from 19 different countries around the world."

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