...The election of the left-wing Labour Party on the July 4, 2024 saw Sir Keir Starmer become prime minister. Against a backdrop of the October 7 Hamas atrocities in Israel, a vicious war of words raged and still rages on X. Since October 7 Britain has endured anti-Israel protests in London. A minority throw Nazi salutes, vile anti-Semitic images and chant the debatably genocidal “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Many are openly anti-West.
I posted a meme whose legend invoked foul language and dismissed Islam eight months ago. As a journalist I received an email from the Metropolitan Police inviting me in for interview. I informed them of my reluctance. Exasperated, three weeks later, two police officer hand delivered a letter informing me I would be arrested if I did not attend. I assume they were looking for me to incriminate myself. After a no-comment interview I got a phone call for no further action a month ago.
Nationally-known British journalist Allison Pearson, who writes for The Daily Telegraph, had police knock on her door on a Remembrance Sunday morning, November 10, 2024. Essex police had received a complaint from another force under Section 17 of the Public Order Act 1986 for material “likely or intended to cause racial hatred”. Like me, she was invited for an interview.
Her crime was to caption an image of Greater Manchester Police officers holding the flag of Pakistani political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), led by deposed Prime Minister Imran Khan. Ms Pearson was alleged to have put the caption “How dare they. Invited to pose for a photo with lovely peaceful British Friends of Israel on Saturday police refused. Look at this lot smiling with the Jew haters.” It is believed she mistook the Pakistani flag for a Hamas flag and her words were seen as “racist and inflammatory,” a charge Ms Pearson denied. The Crown Prosecution Service declined to prosecute her.
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