Protesters threw eggs at French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen on Sunday as he travelled to northwest England to voice his support for Britain's own extreme-right party the BNP.
Others hurled rubbish bins at his car as he left a Manchester hotel where he endorsed the British National Party, which shares the anti-immigration stance of his own National Front (FN) party.
Police and private security officers protected the firebrand FN founder inside his vehicle as he tried to slip by the protesters, Britain's domestic Press Association reported.
Le Pen was to proceed later in the day to a fund-raising dinner for the BNP, which is gearing up for June elections for the European Parliament and local councils.
"I came to Manchester today to be on the side and support the various candidates," Le Pen told reporters at the Manchester press conference alongside BNP leader Nick Griffin.
"I hope that many people from the BNP will be elected and that we will create a very strong nationalist movement within the European Parliament," he said, speaking in French with an interpreter present.
Outside the hotel, several hundred protesters chanted "black and white, unite and fight" - a reference to the BNP's and FN's common virulent anti-immigrant position.
Earlier Sunday, Home Secretary David Blunkett said he would have preferred that Le Pen had not come to Britain this weekend, and that the BNP did not exist at all.
"It's extraordinary that a fascist right-wing party should be inviting a foreigner to come and give them their support," Blunkett said on BBC television.
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