Today’s East End shows why the BNP is wrong

It was the saddest moment of my life. My parents came to the UK in roughly 1956, at the invitation of the British government, which needed more workers to fill the iron and cotton mills of Yorkshire and Humberside.

Ironically, it is voters from this region who have chosen the BNP's Andrew Brons to be their MEP.

I remember the racism and hatred that used to dominate the East End of London, where I was brought up.

The windows of our house would be smashed on a regular basis while the locals would stand outside to watch and laugh at our misery. We were regularly verbally abused and physically attacked, always by the same thugs.

I still remember the day I was sitting in my father's car and one of the local bullies threw a brick at our windscreen, leaving it shattered, the brick on my lap and my face cut by the flying glass.

When we would call the police they took very little action; often, they took none. All because we were immigrants; because we were not white.

We fought back, though, until we were able to drive them out of our neighbourhood. Many sacrifices have been made, and even lives lost, to root out racism.

So the BNP win is a step backward — a slap in the face for those of us who have struggled against such bigotry.

Those who voted BNP, even as a protest vote, need to ask themselves some serious questions. What do they say to their children about the black, the brown, the immigrants of their country?

For I believe those who voted BNP have sent the "foreigners" a simple message: get out of this country, you don't belong here.

My parents are Bangladeshi, I have been brought up in London and my wife is Hungarian. We have two young children who are very proud of their colourful and mixed ethnic background. I feel ashamed telling my children about this disgraceful election result.

I have always instilled in them a love and respect for this country and its people. The United Kingdom has benefited from the enormous contributions made by immigrants in every facet of life, and I feel shaken by the fact that there are still so many racists living among us.

But I am not going to take this lying down. I have news for the BNP supporters: this is as much my country as theirs. I am here to stay. I promise to work even harder to challenge their sick racist ideas, and I will do everything within my power to struggle against their rotten ideology.

And while the BNP has gained in the north, London has managed to keep them out. I'm sad that the BNP vote in London rose, but it was less than five per cent: they gained no seats.

Walking around today's East End, you can see why. It is completely different from the way it was in my youth. It is now extremely multicultural and has many faiths living peacefully alongside each other.

Racially motivated incidents have substantially dropped, and I give credit to the years of anti-racism campaigns for that.

When I walk the streets of London today and I see all the colours and races and hear all the languages of the world spoken around me, I cannot imagine how anybody anywhere in the UK could vote for the BNP.

Ajmal Masroor is a London imam and broadcaster