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A visit to the former St. John's church in Longsight casts further doubt on right-wing claims of 'desecration'

A series of videos on YouTube have claimed that a graveyard has been bulldozed to make way for a car-park.

The site is the former St. John's church in Longsight, Manchester, which is now a mosque and Islamic centre. The story has been published on the website of the British National Party.

I have searched the Manchester Local Image Collection, looked on satellite images and Google Street View but haven't found any evidence that there were graves or headstones on the area has been cleared. I even have a photograph that I took back in 1985 which reveals some interesting information.

So far the people who claim there has been 'desecration' have only come up with a photograph of one broken headstone, which could have been there before work started. The churchyard has been unloved for many years.

On Thursday 25 March 2010 I went along to the location to take a look for myself. What I found would seem to cast even more doubt on the claims. I show how some of the shots in the YouTube videos are highly misleading.

You can find more information, links, visitor comments and the latest updates in my blog post about this.

Duration: 4 mins 15 secs

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