British police arrested a man for a video he posted on Facebook that critiqued the prevalence of Palestinian flags in his UK neighborhood. A video of the arrest shows officers explaining the reason for the arrest. The man is apparently still in custody at the time of this writing.
An officer states that on October 17, 2023, on London's Bethel Green Road, at 10:04, the man, per witnesses, complained "why are they over here, etc., we let them into our country, etc." The man's wife in the background said the officers "are disgusting" for arresting the man over his alleged comments that favor British culture over the imported, Islamic culture of the Palestinians.
"You're arresting him because he said something," the woman said. The officers slap handcuffs on the man and drag him away.
Her son, also in the home, said "they're just doing their jobs, it's not their fault."
"It is their fault," she said.
"We have the freedom of speech," he told the officers, "if we want to be against Palestine we will be."
As the man was escorted back he could be seen laughing. Apparently the video he made was shown on GB News, a conservative leaning British news network.
As he was put into the police van, the man's wife yelled to the rest of the apartment complex that the man was arrested for criticizing Hamas. Another officer asked the woman if there was medicine the man may need, and she revealed that he was suffering with kidney disease.
The man in cuffs screams at the police that they are "completely off the planet" for arresting him for speaking against Palestine and the infiltration of foreign values and persons into British society. "You're embarrassing yourself," he told officers.
The man's video criticized the myriad Palestinian flags lining Bethel Green Road as well as the many Middle Eastern food shops in the area. As he spoke, a veiled woman crossed his path. Apparently, preferring one's own culture to that of foreign nationals is an arrestable offense.
The Metropolitan Police responded after an outcry arose against the injustice.
"This video shows the arrest of a man on suspicion of a racially aggravated Section 5 public order offence," the police said on X. "The arrested man was taken to an east London police station where he remains at this time. We take all allegations of hate crime incredibly seriously. Where offences have taken place, our officers are attending, supporting victims and making arrests - and we will continue to do so."
