Free speech at risk. Fear of Islamic sponsored violence.

UK politician arrested for quoting Churchill, could face 2 years in prison

Thomas Lifson

Paul Weston, co-founder and leader of the GB Liberty party and a candidate for Member of the European Parliament, was arrested Saturday, hauled off in a police van, and could face two years in prison. All for reading a passage from Winston Churchill’s book, The River War, regarding Islam:

“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the faith: all know how to die but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith.”
According to his party:

Mr Weston, a candidate in the 22 May European Elections in the South East, was arrested on 26 April in front of Winchester Guildhall for quoting in public a passage critical of Islam written by Winston Churchill, using a megaphone.

He spent several hours in a cell at Winchester Police Station, after which the original charge of breaching a Section 27 Dispersal Notice was dropped and Mr Weston was "re-arrested" for a Racially Aggravated Crime, under Section 4 of the Public Order Act, which carries a potential prison sentence of 2 years.
He was then fingerprinted and obliged to submit to DNA sampling, following which he was bailed with a return date to Winchester Police on May 24th.

Had the woman who complained to the police made an official statement, Mr Weston would not have been released last night, but fortunately for him she did not.

The case is now being presented to the Crown Prosecution Service. If the CPS decides to prosecute, then Mr Weston will be arrested, awaiting trial, when he presents himself to the police on May 24th.

The GB Liberty Party, like the larger UKIP (UK Independence Party), favors bringing Britain out of the EU. But it distinguishes itself from the UKIP:

 A lot of people have been saying to us that we should join forces with UKIP. We need to make it clear why that is not happening.
UKIP is a thoroughly anti-British party. It promotes population replacement immigration policies that would see Britain become predominantly non-British. UKIP is also backtracking on its immigration policy, and is now talking about a potential inflow of 100,000 per year (which was conveniently changed after receiving support from big business). UKIP also ignores Islam and Jihad. Finally, UKIP membership contains many left wing libertarians who have no problem with immigration and seeing Britain become an Islamic state.
This is why we will not join forces with UKIP, and this is why it is necessary for people to help us at Liberty GB.

As Mark Steyn, among others has noted, this sort of dhimmi-compliant behavior by the Brit police is nothing new, though arresting an actual candidate and leader of a political party may be.

…a reader's recollection of the first weeks of the Salman Rushdie fatwa:

A couple of years back, I mentioned the fatwa against Salman Rushdie and received a flurry of lively e-mails. It was Valentine's Day 1989, you'll recall, when the Ayatollah Khomeini issued his extraterritorial summary judgment on a British subject, and shortly thereafter large numbers of British Muslims were marching through English cities openly calling for Rushdie to be killed.

A reader in Bradford recalled asking a West Yorkshire officer on the street that day why the various "Muslim community leaders" weren't being arrested for incitement to murder. The officer said they'd been told to "play it cool". The calls for blood got more raucous. My correspondent asked his question again. The policeman told him to "F--- off, or I'll arrest you."

And so it has gone, ever more openly, across the ensuing quarter-century. Point out problematic aspects of Islam, and the British state's response is "F--- off, or I'll arrest you." Her Majesty's Constabulary do not yet police their charges quite as strictly as the Saudi mutaween, but they're getting there: The day after Drummer Lee Rigby was hacked to death in broad daylight on the streets of London, a march in support of the "Help for Heroes" military charity led to a five-hour standoff between marchers and police, ending with the arrest of Lee Cousins for "mocking the Islamic prayer ritual" by getting down on his hands and knees outside the pub. He was fined 600 pounds.
When was the last time someone was fined 600 quid for mocking any bit of Christian ritual?

The United Kingdom authorities are obviously scared* to death of Islamists, and think that voluntary dhimmitude will save them. No wonder Churchill is so toxic to them.
*corrected