Man arrested over anti-Hamas social media post

A man has been arrested over posting an image online that said “F--- Hamas”.

Pete North, 47, was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence on Thursday night over a meme that he posted on X.

The blogger, from Easingwold, North Yorkshire, was interviewed at a police station over claims he had stirred up racial hatred with the post. He was later released without charge.

Mr North has now accused North Yorkshire Police of attempting to “terrorise” members of the public into being politically correct online.

He told The Telegraph: “I feel quite strongly that what political cartoons and memes I post on social media is none of the police’s business.”

The image, which Mr North posted on X in August, depicted a Palestine flag with the text: “F--- Palestine. F--- Hamas. F--- Islam. Want to protest? F--- off to Muslim country and protest.”

At 9.30pm on Thursday, two officers from North Yorkshire Police knocked on his door to arrest him – but he claimed they refused to tell him which post he was being arrested for.

Footage of the arrest shows one officer telling him: “We got a report, I’d say about a month ago. In essence, you posted something on the internet that they didn’t appreciate.

“I’ll explain a few steps. In terms of that, basically our hate crime team have reviewed and there are offences there we need to explore. Unfortunately, the time is 21.31, you are under arrest for what’s referred to as Section 19 of the Public Order Act.”

Section 19 refers to the publication or distribution of “written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting” and “stir[s] up racial hatred”.

In the footage, Mr North tells the officer: “You’re taking me to Harrogate in the middle of the night for a tweet. Is this what you signed up to the police to do?”

The officer replies: “This is my role. I’m trying to be reasonable.”

Mr North was then transported in a van to a police station near Harrogate, where he was interviewed at 1am.

He recalled: “The officer in the interview said, ‘Well, firstly, let’s start with the meme. You posted a meme that said f--- Hamas’.

“I said, ‘yeah, I did post a meme that said f--- Hamas, because Hamas are a proscribed terrorist organisation internationally, including in Britain. Just so we’re on the same page, you do know who Hamas are?’ And he just looked gormlessly and shook his head.

“‘And so you don’t know anything about Oct 7?’ And I briefly explained to him what happened at the Nova music festival. He was totally oblivious. If you’re going to arrest people for memes, you probably need to pay more attention to current affairs.”

Mr North said he stood by the contents of his post, and that officers questioned him on whether he knew that Tommy Robinson had also shared the image online.

He said: “I was asked whether I intended to incite racial hatred by posting the meme. I replied that Islam is not a race. I had not intended to stir up racial hatred. I simply agree with the premise of the meme.

“Nobody should be facing police inquiries for posting memes on Twitter.”

He later said: “It will be interesting to see if they do charge me. I don’t think they will, but I don’t think they care because the whole point of this exercise is not to win convictions. It’s to terrorise people like me into thinking twice about posting spicy memes.”

The former Ukip activist said he was released without charge at 1.30am and arrived home in a taxi at 3am.

Richard North, the blogger’s father, found out he had been arrested when his son’s partner rang him shortly after the arrest.

Mr North senior, who previously worked with Nigel Farage for four years when the Reform UK leader was a Ukip MEP in Strasbourg, said officers acted with “a Gestapo-style approach” when they knocked on his son’s door after 9pm.

‘The game is intimidation’

The long-time Brexit activist said he was not surprised his son had been arrested for a tweet, following the arrest of Lucy Connolly and the police investigation into Allison Pearson, a Telegraph columnist. He added: “We are all very conscious of what is going on, and it is extremely worrying.”

The 77-year-old carer, who previously co-wrote The Great Deception: The secret history of the European Union alongside the late Telegraph columnist Christopher Booker, added: “The game is intimidation. We’re all looking over our shoulders, thinking, ‘Am I going to be next?’”

The case is the latest “two-tier justice” free speech row to embroil police. It has parallels to the case of Mrs Connolly, who spent more than a year in prison for posting a tweet that incited racial hatred in the wake of last year’s Southport murders.

Earlier this month, Graham Linehan, the Irish comedy writer, was arrested by five armed officers at Heathrow airport over comments he had posted on X about a transgender activist.

Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, has since said police had been placed in an impossible position when it came to such matters.

Lord Young of Acton, secretary general of the Free Speech Union (FSU), said: “The police arrest over 30 people a day for ‘offensive’ social media posts, and fewer than one in 20 end up being prosecuted.

“Pete North is a member of the Free Speech Union, something he’s made the police aware of, so I’d be surprised if he’s charged.”

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: “Following receipt of a report, a man was arrested yesterday on suspicion of publishing or distributing written material intended to stir up racial hatred. He has been released on bail while inquiries continue.”