BBC program crew stoned in Argentina

The cast and crew of a BBC motoring program have been forced to flee from Argentina after a furious crowd hurled stones at them over a controversial license plate.

Reports said on Friday that the people began throwing rocks at one of the vehicles of state-funded BBC’s “Top Gear” program.

According to local newspapers and residents, H982 FKL, the registration plate of a Porsche present at the location, was a reference to the 1982 Malvinas war in which Argentina attempted and failed to capture the Britain-held island chain that the British refer to as the Falklands.

“It was an outright provocation,” said Cesar Gonzalez, the head of the Malvinas war veteran center in Rio Grande, southern Argentina.

“Their license plate had the number 982, an allusion to the war (1982) and the letters FLK for the Falklands. It was a mockery to us all,” he added.

The program’s cast and crew were forced to abandon the Porsche 928, a Lotus Esprit and a Ford Mustang, and were escorted to the airport by police.

The recent incident is not the first time that the show’s presenter Jeremy Clarkson has created controversy while filming in a foreign country. In May, he was chastised for using a racial slur while filming an episode in Myanmar.

SRK/MAM/MHB