Tommy Robinson arrested. Police using their existing powers

As much as I dislike the man I am rather concerned that the Met is picking and choosing who they arrest in a disjointed fashion.

The Met stood by late yesterday as pro Palestinian protesters let off flares and fireworks in central London whilst chanting for Jihad and death to all Jews(source multiple high profile Jewish folks social media posts and videos). That was definitely anti social behaviour.

I am concerned that it’s possible to be arrested for your political stance.

I agree GrannyGravy.

I disagree with GG and Annie the man should not be walking around a free man he should be behind bars
Him and his ilk are what’s making this country such a nasty place
Good for the Met

BlueBelle

I disagree with GG and Annie the man should not be walking around a free man he should be behind bars
Him and his ilk are what’s making this country such a nasty place
Good for the Met

You have missed the point, I neither like or admire him, but I am concerned that its possible to be arrested (not charged) for one’s political views l.

My understanding is that the organisers of the march didn't want Robinson. He was issued with a dispersal order before the march started and was banned from entering a specific area for 48 hours. He refused to comply, argued with the police and was arrested.

If anybody had asked for dispersal orders to be issued to specific individuals before the pro-Palestinian marches (and they'd been granted), I guess the Met would have had to do the same.

GrannyGravy, people organising this March knew, based on very recent experience, that Tommy Robinson was likely to cause disruption, and based on their request, and not on his political views, he was directed to leave and refused to do so, so he was arrested.

If your political views stay within the law and do not consist of blatant Islamophobia (or Anti semitism, homophobia etc) then yes, I agree with you. Tommy Robinson's views do not stay within the law which is why he has spent time in jail. The organisers of the march did not want him or his supporters there and he was given several opportunities to leave but didn't. I am pleased to see him being removed by the MET, just as I was pleased to see people wearing or waving anything that supported Hamas in any of the marches in support of Palestinians. If we want to keep the right to march and protest we all need to do it within the law.

Tommy Robinson is a well known provocator and was responsible for inciting mayhem on remembrance Sunday before running away in a taxi. The thuggery of his followers is well documented. I don't think he was removed because of a political opinion

Grandmabatty

Tommy Robinson is a well known provocator and was responsible for inciting mayhem on remembrance Sunday before running away in a taxi. The thuggery of his followers is well documented. I don't think he was removed because of a political opinion

Was he arrested for those incidences or for what he might have said or done today?

If the latter, that is worrying.

I think he's a troublemaker, probably dangerous, but if he has been arrested for his views, that is a dangerous path to go down and there are many others who should be arrested too.

He was arrested today because he refused to comply with a dispersal order, which banned him from being in the area of the antisemitism march. The order was issued at the request of the organisers, who didn't want him after he had announced he would be there.

Anniebach

I agree GrannyGravy.

Me too.

I’m not worried that this despicable person was removed from the march, especially as others have pointed out that the police asked him not to attend as did the organisers of the march, again according to what others have said. I haven’t seen a report about this and so I’m getting my information from Gransnet. I would hope he was arrested because he failed to comply with the police request as stated and not for his political views, however distasteful they are to the majority, if not all, of us Gransnetters.
I’m rather more concerned about some of the behaviours at the pro Palestinian marches, please note I said some of the behaviours. I’m disturbed that some behaviours appear to be being ignored.

The police have said they are working on those chanting anti semetic stuff, taking some time is it not ?

Anniebach

The police have said they are working on those chanting anti semetic stuff, taking some time is it not ?

That has nothing to do with Tommy Robinson's arrest.

maddyone It's been reported on the BBC, Sky and a number of other media outlets. There's video from a number of sources of the actual arrest.

It's actually a perfectly reasonable question and it is a comparison that is being made on every area of social media currently.
I am really uncomfortable about this and I loathe Tommy Robinson.

Section 35 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 provides police officers with discretionary powers to disperse individuals or groups causing, or likely to cause, harassment, alarm, or distress to others. It enables officers to issue a dispersal order, which can cover a specific area for up to 48 hours, allowing them to instruct individuals to leave the area and not return for a designated period. Failure to comply with such an order can result in arrest.

The police acted within the law. Tommy Robinson has form for being a catalyst for trouble. I don't think the police or the organisers would have much trouble defending a claim that he would be likely to cause harassment, alarm, or distress to others.

I'm really pleased that this march went off without any major incident. The last thing the organisers wanted was somebody with extremist views encouraging others with extremist views, resulting in any kind of scuffle.

Yes short term its lovely, long term its likely to be horrendous. But on we go.

Yaxley Lennon should remember that in the USA refusing to comply can get you shot. He's lucky to be living in a country where he can still walk the streets spreading his poisonous views. No doubt we shall here a lot about his "victimisation"

I should start by saying I loathe Tommy Robinson and all he stands for. I'm pretty OK that he was arrested for failing to comply with a police order. I'm equally OK with the arrest and detention of Just Stop Oil protestors who are being held in custody for breaching previous bail conditions. SM is awash with pleas for 'poor Phoebe' who has been remanded in custody for breaching her bail conditions, to the point a 'Go fund me' page has been started. I don't see any difference between Tommy Robinson's offence or Phoebe's. As long as the law is fairly applied without political influence that's fine.

GrannyGravy13

As much as I dislike the man I am rather concerned that the Met is picking and choosing who they arrest in a disjointed fashion.

The Met stood by late yesterday as pro Palestinian protesters let off flares and fireworks in central London whilst chanting for Jihad and death to all Jews(source multiple high profile Jewish folks social media posts and videos). That was definitely anti social behaviour.

I am concerned that it’s possible to be arrested for your political stance.

Take your point.

But, after Robinson posted on X to his nearly 400,000 followers earlier this month. “Everyone should attend this and let British Jews know they are not alone.”

... the march organisers, the CAA, responded:

“No thanks. The drunken far-right thugs who came to ‘protect the cenotaph’ on Armistice Day, some of whom shouted ‘Sieg Heil’ or hospitalised police officers, are most definitely not welcome.”

I believe the police really had little choice. Especially taking into consideration how Robinson's thugs behaved on Armistice Day.

If the force believe there is going to be trouble, a breach of the peace, I think they are allowed to make that judgment.

And to claim, as he did / does, that he's a "journalist" (he 'self-identifies' as one) is - as Ian Murray, executive director of the Society of Editors says, "a dangerous distortion of the truth".

But, it's worrying that the pro-Palestinian marchers - or some of them, anyway - appear to be getting away with letting of flares and shouting for "jihad". I wonder if they will be identified and charged at a later date?

If they'd dived into the crows to make arrests - there might have been the same scuffles and scenes we saw with Robinson?

Tommy Robinson said he was doing his job as a journalist on the news. He was there to cause a fracas and the organisers did not want to be associated with him and his cronies.i agree that the Police allowed too much lenience to some hateful remarks on the pro Palestinian March but quite frankly they were outnumbered and would find it more difficult to intervene.

Some apples and pears comparison going on here. TM founded the EDL which was closely associated with the BNP. He put a msg out to his followers prior to Armistice Day which resulted in chaos and violence at the cenotaph. He was issued with a legally obtained dispersal because his presence was not wanted at Saturday's Anti semitism march which he ignored so he was arrested. Can anyone name a single person at any of the pro Palestine marches that had these characteristics but was allowed to stay to cause trouble. Did the police know who was intending to show Anti semitic behaviour? I don't think so. Behaviour like that erupted in pockets of otherwise peaceful protesters which is difficult to deal with at the time. It's fine to criticise the police but at least do it fairly.

Can anyone name a single person at any of the pro Palestinian marches that had these characteristics but was allowed to stay to cause trouble?

Unless one personally knew someone who was going on a pro Palestinian march, then of course no one could name any of the marches. It seems to have eluded you that Tommy Robinson is well known and has been well known for years by most people in the UK. Consequently his activities are widely reported in the media. Additionally he apparently announces his intentions on Twitter, not that I follow him , I don’t do Twitter and don’t intend to do so in the future.