Police were called to Borders bookshop in Oxford amid scenes of uproar at a talk given by the controversial philosopher Andrew Malcolm. Members of the audience were escorted from the shop in Magdalen Street as the author tried to continue with his talk.
Borders staff began to remove chairs and tables and Mr Malcolm and his supporters staged an impromptu sit-in. He, too, was eventually led off the premises by police officers and later angrily accused Borders of depriving him of freedom of speech.
Mr Malcolm has been involved in a six-year feud with Oxford University after the Oxford University Press declined to publish his book. He was at Borders, in Magdalen Street, to sign copies of his philosophical work Making Names and his book about his court battle with the OUP, which left him with a £12,500 legal bill.
Mr Malcolm said: "This must have been the oddest invited book-signing in history; no window display, no poster, just an author quietly addressing his peaceable audience, while a team of security men solemnly requisitioned their table and chairs. It was not so much Nazi Germany as Monty Python. In a way it's flattering. I never realised that what I have to say is so dangerous."
Penny Fox, a lecturer who was in the small audience of 12, said: "It was an extraordinary scene with an author and a handful of his middle-aged audience being escorted from Borders by police because the manager considered a book inappropriate."
Philip Downer, managing director of Borders Books & Music, said: "Borders is a place of ideas, where all shades of opinion are discussed, and our customers are intelligent, curious people. We are always disappointed when we have to cancel an event, and it was unfortunate that some members of the public were unaware of the change of programme. Mr Malcolm's books remain in stock."
Mr Malcolm, who lives in Brighton, sued the OUP for breach of contract saying that the Press had given him a verbal agreement to publish his book. He lost in the High Court and then went to appeal and won.
TONIGHT Discussion: Andrew Malcolm, a persistent critic of Oxford University, introduces his books Making Names and The Remedy. Borders, Magdalen Street, Oxford, 7pm.