Over at the pro-war left’s hiding holes the usual suspects have been lapping up a story about an alleged attack on a pensioner by Respect supporters leafletting for George Galloway. Unfortunately for them, this story seems to have been made up out of whole cloth by Oona King’s campaign team or some other interested party, as none of the details of the attack ring true.
Mr Les Dobrovolski, 69, was approached by a group of young men handing out George Galloway’s Respect/ SWP literature, last Thursday 21 April, near Spitalfield Market in East London.
After refusing to take a leaflet and telling the men he would never vote for George Galloway, Mr
Dobrovolski says he was followed by one of the men and pushed to the floor. The man then stamped on his hand before dropping a Respect leaflet on him and running off.Mr Dobrovolski was taken by ambulance to the local hospital where he was x-rayed and given stitches.
He is scheduled to return to hospital next week for surgery to straighten his broken nose. The police
were informed of the attack and are currently investigating.
Now the facts, courtesy of Lenin’s Tomb
On Thursday 21st April, Les Dobrovolski told the police that he had been attacked, but there was no
mention of him having been assaulted by Respect supporters or of any leaflet. The first time such a
claim appeared anywhere was in the Labour Party’s press-release. The police have confirmed, categorically, that no such claims were made to the police when Mr Dobrovolski was interviewed, and that they are not investigating the Respect party in connection with this. They issued it as a general statement to the press, which is why most papers did not touch it.The claim that Mr Dobrovolski encountered Respect supporters canvassing for George Galloway in Poplar is highly improbable, to say the least, since Poplar is not in the constituency being contested by
George Galloway. There were no canvassers out there. The leaflet that was allegedly dropped on Mr
Dobrovolski following the attack was still in the printers on the day of the attack, and was sent out
as a postal drop – ie, sent by the printers directly to Royal Mail, and not to Respect leaders or
canvassers. The earliest the leaflet could have been sent out was on Saturday’s post.
Do keep in mind Oona King already had to settle out of court once for a libel action George Galloway brought against her, only to repeat the libel almost immediately afterwards. Since the start of campaigning she has been trying to make the race as nasty as possible, constantly smearing Respect and Galloway; this fits in perfectly.
The smear itself is bad enough, but to use a bystander, a pensioner in a dirty war against Respect is
quite something else.