‘Great Britain has fallen’: British war veteran arrested for social media post
A decorated British war veteran was arrested last week for “malicious communications” after police received a complaint about one of his social media posts. The offending post showed a swastika made of rainbow flags, a commentary on the state-sponsored intimidation of citizens to embrace same-sex attraction and gender disorientation.
Ironically, the post was validated when the veteran, referred to as “Darren” in a video of the incident, was ordered to pay £60 for a Community Awareness Course. Authorities told the man the purpose of the course was to “reeducate” him, according to The Epoch Times.
When the 51-year-old war veteran refused to pay for the course, three policemen arrived at his home Sunday morning to arrest him.
In a video shared by actor and political activist Laurence Fox, who live streamed the incident at the scene, the policemen handcuffed Darren in front of his home. Though Fox was the first to share the meme back in June, he was not arrested.
“Why am I in cuffs because of something [Laurence Fox] shared, then I shared?” Darren asked the officers.
“Because someone has been caused, obviously, anxiety, based on your social media post. That is why you’ve been arrested,” responded a policeman after accusing the veteran of being “homophobic.”
“We didn’t want it to come to this sir, but you’ve made that decision yourself,” added the policeman.
Fox, who was filming the incident live, unloaded heavy criticism on the officers, decrying “what’s going on in the police” and “what’s going on to innocent, normal civilians in this country who are being bullied and antagonized by a politicized police force.”
The activist also shared with the police officers what viewers of the livestream were saying about them, calling them “Waffen SS”, “disgraceful coppers”, “Stasi”, “Nazis” and other insults.
“They serve a protected ideology,” said Fox of the officers. “An untouchable ideology. That’s what it’s about. It’s an untouchable – you cannot criticize the ideology. If you criticize the new woke ideology, Man if you criticize anything about all of this ‘pride’ movement and all of this stuff – you make any criticism of it whatsoever and you end up in cuffs. Know that. Know that, citizens of Great Britain.”
According to Darren, this was the first time the war veteran had ever been handcuffed.
“Great Britain has fallen,” commented Rebel News journalist Avi Yemini.
In a statement to The Epoch Times, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Police & Crime Commissioner Donna Jones criticized the “proportionality and necessity of the police’s response” but did not seem bothered that there was a response by armed authorities to a social media post.
“I am concerned about both the proportionality and necessity of the police’s response to this incident. When incidents on social media receive not one but two visits from police officers, but burglaries and non-domestic break-ins don’t always get a police response, something is wrong,” added Jones.