A man has been arrested and hauled out of his home in the dead of night for a social media post.
Pete North, 47, was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence on Thursday night for sharing an image which included the words "f*** Hamas".
Mr North, a blogger and commentator from Easingwold, North Yorkshire, received a knock on the door by police at 9.30pm.
Two officers arrived to arrest him - but allegedly refused to tell him exactly which post was behind the visit.
Mr North, who enjoys a prominent following on social media, shared a video of the run-in with police online.
In it, one officer says: "We got a report... I'd say about a month ago. In essence, you posted something on the internet that they didn’t appreciate.
"Basically our hate crime team have reviewed and there are offences there we need to explore.
Pete North (pictured) was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence on Thursday night
|YOUTUBE
"Unfortunately, the time is 9.31pm, you are under arrest for what's referred to as Section 19 of the Public Order Act."
Section 19 covers the publication or distribution of "written material which is threatening, abusive or insulting" and "stir[s] up racial hatred".
Mr North had shared an image of a Palestinian flag overlaid with the text: "F*** Palestine, f*** Hamas, f*** Islam. Want to protest? F*** off to Muslim country and protest."
He was eventually bundled away into a police "snatch van" for a 1am interview in Harrogate.
He has now told The Telegraph of what happened.
"The officer in the interview said: 'Well, firstly, let's start with the meme,'" Mr North recalled. "You posted a meme that said f*** Hamas."
ARRESTED FOR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS - READ MORE:
- 'Two-tier justice!' Sarah Pochin fumes as father jailed for social media post 'CRUSHED' by the system - ‘Attack on free speech!’
- 'It's burglary!' Kent Police spark outrage after 'un-British' raid on pensioner over social media post: 'Entirely unlawful'
- Comedian Graham Linehan, 57, arrested at Heathrow Airport over 'trans tweets' before being rushed to hospital
- While Lucy Connolly languished, a far more sinister plot was underway to capture our courts - Robert Courts
PICTURED: A censored version of the post for which Mr North faced a police visit
|X
The 47-year-old continued: "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 October 7?"
"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."
The blogger also vowed that he stood by the contents of the image - and revealed how officers also questioned him on whether he knew that Tommy Robinson had shared the image online too.
TWO-TIER BRITAIN? READ MORE:
- Want to thrive in two-tier Britain? Don't be straight, white, male or just a woman - Renee Hoenderkamp
- Council accused of hypocrisy after van with Palestine flag ignored for months but towed days after St George’s flag added
- Awkward moment Susan Hall 'exposes two-tier attitudes' during frosty grilling of Sadiq Khan's policing deputy
PICTURED: A heavily-armed member of proscribed terrorist group Hamas. Mr North accused the officer who arrested him of 'not knowing who Hamas are'
| REUTERSHe 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 vowed.
Mr North went on to speculate that police will not charge him - but said: "This exercise is not to win convictions. It’' to terrorise people like me into thinking twice about posting spicy memes."
On Friday morning, he said the police van encounter made him have a claustrophobic fit.
"I don't know when they started using these vans but they never used to be necessary," Mr North wrote after the event.
"They used to come and just pick you up in a panda car. I was not threatening or violent, as you can see from the footage. There was no reason whatsoever for police to treat me that way or turn up in a snatch van."
Mr North shared extensive footage of his encounter with police online
|X/FUDAILY
Mr North, also a former Ukip activist, said he was released without charge at 1.30am and arrived home in a taxi at 3am.
He went on to detail how his a form of tourettes left him having an "autism episode" at the hands of police.
He later added: "I'm not saying this to in any way mitigate any alleged offence or in preparation of any future litigation.
"I'm saying this because it is a matter of public concern that the police are completely ignorant in their understanding of autism and related conditions. That ignorance will end up killing somebody more vulnerable than me."
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."