On Friday night thousands of you will have enjoyed the opening night of the Bath Festival which climaxed in a wonderful array of fireworks. Well, I too experienced plenty of fireworks in Bath city centre on that night – but of a wholly different kind.

As one of those odd people who actually loves politics, I elected to attend and report on a meeting at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution which was supposed to be a chance for as many as possible of the 17 candidates standing in next week's EU elections to make their case. To be honest, I know precious little about the whole EU adventure and I thought this would be a good chance to improve my knowledge.

But that's not the way the evening turned out. As the BRLSI had invited all candidates – including the highly controversial right-wing British National Party – I was aware that there could be a demonstration by local anti-racists but I wasn't prepared for just how big that demo would be or how it would affect the course of a truly remarkable evening.

You can read what actually happened on the night from my report at the "Related Content" link above, but in a nutshell, the presence of the BNP wasn't just an issue – it was the ONLY issue of the night.

The fact that the BNP was there meant that several of the other candidates refused to take part in the debate – although to their credit many were there to make their points known. Some of the other parties like UKIP were prepared to debate but a human barricade of protesters stopped anyone getting into the BRLSI during a tense and unpredictable hour or so.

Eventually the debate did go ahead but only four of the minor parties got to speak and so the big question we should ask is: was democracy served by the fact that the BNP was allowed to be there or was it ill-served by the fact that the party were there at all and many other voices never got heard?

It's a tough and difficult question – and one I can't answer – but in spite of all this chaos, I came away with a lot of admiration for many people involved in a night of political drama.

Firstly, I greatly admired the BRLSI for having the guts to continue with the debate despite the protest. The truly splendid convener, Rodney Tye, genuinely believed he was being fair by inviting all parties and doggedly stuck to his guns. I also applaud all the BRLSI members who were determined to hear the debate and patiently waited for the protest to end to do so. Commendable stoicism.

I also respected the protesters themselves. In a time when political apathy is actually applauded, it was good to see people with a passion and belief to actually stand up and be counted for what they truly believe.

And, I also applaud the police for their actions. This could have got very ugly but the police were as patient and as understanding as possible and the way they removed all the anti-BNP protesters without making a single arrest among them was a textbook example of good policing in difficult circumstances.

As for the BNP, well, it just left me deeply depressed. Unlike many of the protesters, I did hear the debate (because I believe you have to hear what people say before judging them) and the moment the party's spokesperson tried to claim he wasn't a racist but called black people "Negroes" was the moment I realised this party is wedded to racism – despite the fact that many of them now wear nice suits. Negroes is the language of the American Civil War and not 21st century British politics – and I felt chilled and angry.

BNP? Beyond Normal Politics.