Last Updated on August 1, 2022
Free speech continues to be under assault across the western world. The latest example involves the arrest of a man in the United Kingdom for the heinous crime of retweeting a meme on Twitter. Darren Brady, a veteran of the British Army, was placed in handcuffs by police for retweeting a meme that shows a swastika made out of pride flags, meant to liken the nature of the LGBTQ movement to repressive and authoritarian Nazism. Brady’s arrest was captured on video.
Hampshire Police arrested an elderly veteran for "causing anxiety" after retweeting a meme of a swastika made of Pride flags.
Former Scotland Yard DCI Mike Neville says officers need "retraining".
"They believe this nonsense. The wrong people are being recruited."@TVKev pic.twitter.com/DbQ2rAkVRT
— TalkTV (@TalkTV) August 1, 2022
As police detained Brady, he asked why he was being arrested. The answer he got was that someone had been offended by his retweet. “Someone has been caused anxiety because of your social media post, that’s why you’ve been arrested”, an officer told Brady.
After Brady was detained, Harry Miller, an ex-cop, confronted police for arresting Brady. For this Miller was also arrested. Miller later told Daily Mail why he stepped in. “Hampshire Police showed a blatant disregard of the law. They approached Mr Brady and acted as summary judge, jury and executioner – but didn’t know what offence he’d actually committed. They said he was being arrested for causing anxiety, which is utterly ridiculous!”
British politician and activist Lawrence Fox boosted the story of the two men (Fox actually was with Miller when he was arrested), which brought backlash on the police responsible for the arrests. Even the head of the Hampshire Police Department, Donna Jones, released a statement condemning the actions of the officers, referencing that despite the issue with an increase in burglaries, officers felt it necessary to focus on someone sharing memes online.
Fox was also responsible for sharing the meme that got Brady in trouble with the law.
Jones’ statement according to order-order.com:
“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… As Police Commissioner, I am committed to ensuring Hampshire Constabulary serves the public as the majority of people would expect. It appears on this occasion this has not happened… In order to support this I will be writing to the College of Policing to make them aware of this incident and encourage greater clarification on the guidance in order to ensure that police forces can respond more appropriately in the future.”
Officers gave Brady the option to enroll in a “£80 education course to avoid being arrested and possibly charged with a criminal offence”, according to Daily Mail. Brady has not yet decided his next move. Currently, the 51-year old army vet continues to fight alongside Fox and Miller.
https://twitter.com/dazbrady/status/1553681294151876609?s=20&t=l0ucm_xyUTMwgAv7iY2M1w
Stay tuned to National File for any updates.
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