Mayor Ken Livingstone's suspension frozen pending appeal
{{date|March 2, 2006}}

The four week suspension of London Mayor [[w:Ken Livingstone|Ken Livingstone]] has been frozen by a High Court judge pending his appeal.

Ken Livingstone spoke out against the ruling, saying it had "been blown out of all proportion". He also attacked the newspaper group that owns the Evening Standard, around whose reporter the row has erupted.

"It is Associated Newspapers that has a long history of anti-Semitism and support for fascism. It welcomes the blackshirts in the 1930s and it has admitted that as recently as the retirement party of the last editor of the Daily Mail, two of its staff dressed in Nazi uniforms and were not asked to leave. Associated Newspapers has never apologised for this or for its record of support of fascism."

Mr Livingstone also responded to claims made in The Independent newspaper that there had been 11 anti-Semitic attacks following his comments, saying the CMA "in fact claimed there had been 11 ''incidents'' following my speech, in which the worst was an offensive letter to a member of Parliament".

==Related news==
* {{Wikinews|title=Reaction to Ken Livingstone suspension|date=February 27, 2006}}
* {{Wikinews|title=London Mayor Ken Livingstone to appeal over suspension|date=February 27, 2006}}
* {{Wikinews|title=London Mayor Ken Livingstone faces month-long suspension over Nazi jibe|date=February 25, 2006}}

==Sources==
*{{source|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4758246.stm
|title=Judge freezes mayor's suspension
|author=|pub=BBC News Online|date=February 28, 2006}}
*{{source
|url=http://www.london.gov.uk/webcasts.jsp
|title=Mayor of London Webcast|author=|pub=Mayor of London|date=February 28, 2006}}

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[[Category:Europe]]
[[Category:United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Crime and law]]
[[Category:Politics and conflicts]]
[[Category:Daily Mail]]
[[Category:Ken Livingstone]]
The four week suspension of London Mayor Ken Livingstone has been frozen by a High Court judge pending his appeal.

Ken Livingstone spoke out against the ruling, saying it had "been blown out of all proportion". He also attacked the newspaper group that owns the Evening Standard, around whose reporter the row has erupted.

"It is Associated Newspapers that has a long history of anti-Semitism and support for fascism. It welcomes the blackshirts in the 1930s and it has admitted that as recently as the retirement party of the last editor of the Daily Mail, two of its staff dressed in Nazi uniforms and were not asked to leave. Associated Newspapers has never apologised for this or for its record of support of fascism."

Mr Livingstone also responded to claims made in The Independent newspaper that there had been 11 anti-Semitic attacks following his comments, saying the CMA "in fact claimed there had been 11 incidents following my speech, in which the worst was an offensive letter to a member of Parliament".
Europe United Kingdom Crime and law Politics and conflicts Daily Mail Ken Livingstone