TOMMY Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) was arrested by the Metropolitan and City Police on Sunday, and was later released where he will be due in court in January. He has been banned from holding any public demonstrations or entering London.
The basis of the arrest was a breach of Section 35 Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 where his presence would cause “harassment alarm & distress”. Mr. Robinson was there to cover the event as a journalist for Urban Scoop. He was asked to leave but declined.
Twenty officers were despatched, and a sergeant asked for his home address in front of the assembled media. Whether a cock up, or a conspiracy to put him and his family in danger by doxing him, is a matter of debate. Robinson was handcuffed, pepper sprayed and led away. Some in the crowd shouted, “shame on you,” & “Tommy, Tommy.” His arrest received extensive criticism, many by Jews.
Politicalite can exclusively reveal one of the people who requested his exclusion was Steven Silverman of the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism. My sources are the Metropolitan Police, a Jewish follower and Mr. Silverman speaking to Paul Brand on LBC.
He said to Brand: “This march is about tolerance, it’s about inclusion, it’s about kindness, anyone who wants to use it to exploit hate or division, is not welcome.”
From an image point of view, I can understand Campaign Against Anti-Semitism’s stance at an image level. Robinson does have a mixed background with the law & assume they did not want his presence to overshadow the event, but his arrest has.
From a civil liberties point of view Britain has plumbed new depths of authoritarianism. This was a public event, on public roads. So, at the request of an unelected person, the police have the right to eject or arrest anyone they see fit?
Compare and contrast that to pro-Palestinian protests, an orgy of hate, racism & anti-Semitism. When I visited the Cenotaph on Armistice Day, I asked a police officer what you would do if I chanted “gas the Jews”. I would be arrested. What would you do if I chanted “free Palestine from the river to the sea”, he replied “nothing”. I said they effectively meant the same thing. Silence.
Whether it is NAZI analogies of Israel, images of Israel being placed in a rubbish bin, the police have become blind, deaf and mute. It even has its own hashtag on X (formerly known as Twitter) #TwoTierPolicing. It is not confined to the marches as often the white – although not exclusively - working class are dealt with harshly, while politically correct causes are given a free rein, being preened and plumped up as cushions with glee.
I have described Mr. Robinson as “sometimes the architect of his own downfall” & “a flawed character”.
I add on balance, no one brought the industrial rape of girls in this country by largely Pakistani heritage men into the public domain. He exposed the extreme nature of many Muslims, amply on display on their Saturday marches.
The 1970s was dogged by the ascendancy of the vile real far-right National Front. A Hitler adoring, NAZI inspired anti-immigrant organisation, as was the British National Party.
Still today, real far-right agitators retain their innate anti-Semitism. Mr. Robinson visited the West Bank and Israel in 2016. He concluded Palestinian groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas are no different to ISIS or Daesh.
You would have thought Mr. Robinson, who has extensive influence with the working class, should be praised for turning indifference or resentment of Israel and Jews to wholehearted support? He is a target of the establishment.
They have a hair trigger to jail him. Bearing that on mind, while his words can be rough and uncouth, if he had been overtly racist, he would have been jailed years ago.
I conclude his arrest ruined a day. In the hope of trying to avoid Mr. Robinson overshadowing the day, the police have looked tyrannical, vast swathes of the country reflecting on their support for the Israeli cause, and Britain’s working class marginalised, yet again.
