Watch: Police Arrest Autistic Man in Middle of the Night for Posting “F*** Hamas, F*** Islam” on Social Media
Police officers have come under fire after they arrested an autistic man late last night over a social media post which read: “F*** Hamas, F*** Palestine, F*** Islam. Want to protest? F*** off to a Muslim country and protest.” David Shipley in the Spectator has the details.
Last night, Pete North, a well-known political campaigner and veteran of the Brexit movement, was arrested by North Yorkshire Police, allegedly for posting on his X account. A video released by Pete shows police arriving at his house around 9:30pm. On the video, an officer explained that he had “posted something on the internet” which someone “didn’t appreciate”, that their “hate crime team” had reviewed the post and as a result the police were arresting him on suspicion of “stirring up racial hatred” under Section 19 of the Public Order Act.
Pete told me this morning me that he was shocked, believing that “normal practice is to turn up and invite someone in for an interview. They didn’t do that though.” He feels that “the process is the punishment, and this was meant to intimidate”. He said the police “locked [him] in a cage” inside a van and drove him to Harrogate police station, 30 minutes away.
Once inside the station, officers divulged the reason for his arrest. He says they wanted to discuss a meme he had shared on Twitter which consisted of a Palestine flag with the words “Fuck Palestine, Fuck Hamas, Fuck Islam. Want to protest? Fuck off to Muslim country and protest.”
Pete is autistic and suffers from serious claustrophobia. He said that he was stressed and desperate to get home as quickly as possible. During the interview Pete said he had to “explain what Hamas is”, to his “shock and disgust”, as the police did not seem to understand that Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation. Meanwhile, he said, the officers asked repeated questions about Tommy Robinson, asking Pete “are you aware that he was the first person to post this meme?”
North Yorkshire Police eventually released Pete around 1:30am, and he made his own way home. Pete is very clear in his conclusions. He says he “wholly endorses” the meme he shared, that “Islam is not a race”, and he was not seeking to stir up racial hatred.
He says that “the process is the punishment, and this was meant to intimidate – they see people like me as ringleaders online and they know my arrest will have a chilling effect”.
Pete’s treatment stands in clear contrast to that of Charlotte Hayes, a Left-wing TikToker who posted a video apparently calling for people to “kill them all” in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder. Hayes said her words had been misconstrued and Kent police decided to take no further action.
Worth reading in full.
North said he was released without charge at 1:30am and arrived home in a taxi at 3am. 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.”
North 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 arrest has also been reported in the Mail. North told the newspaper:
I’m disgusted by the police, because they could have done this in an orderly, civil way, but they chose maximum intrusion, and it was essentially [being treated like] an act of terrorism.
They were trying to find evidence that I had intended to stir up racial hit with it. Which is unbelievable. It’s crass. The meme itself is a controversial sentiment, but controversial is not illegal, and it happens to be my opinion. …
I’m quite shaken by the whole thing right now. I’ve not slept and I’m not likely to. I’ve always known my tweets were a bit spicy but to be snatched by a goon squad at night for a ‘F*** Hamas’ meme is just breathtakingly outrageous and absurd.
My wife was mortified. She was left alone after I was snatched out of the house and she was in bits, but she is very stoic and she is my rock.’
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss said the case showed police accountability needs to be “restored”:
The police are doing themselves untold damage with the taking in of @FUDdaily and others.
The police hide behind ‘operational independence’.
In fact the senior ranks are a fiefdom that have been captured by Leftist ideology.
Police chiefs need to be hireable and fireable and accountability restored.
The offending meme (posted by North on August 5th):
Our own Toby Young is quoted in the Mail Piece:
Lord Young of Acton, head of the Free Speech Union told the Daily Mail: ‘”Pete North is a member of the Free Speech Union and we’re on the case. The police’s behaviour is reminiscent of the Stasi in East Germany.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Pete has a case for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment. Last time I checked, criticising a proscribed terrorist organisation and its supporters isn’t a criminal offence.
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I wonder what would happen after such an incident once yous all have your Digi I.D cards…You’re bound to be penalised somehow more than you are already in the UK. Imagine the consequences for Pete if he were in China with his social credit score. You’d be scared to say sh*t.
This is Hamas ( note the sick “innocent civilians” yet again ) so I’m firmly on Team Pete. F**k Hamas and f**k Islam🖕
https://x.com/GAZAWOOD1/status/1963323900303127029
Interesting that this man is very switched on to what is going on judging by his comments. He probably was already, but the more this happens and the more it makes headlines, the more people will wake up. Through arrogant over-reach, TPTB are “radicalising” middle of the road Britain.
Pete north is son of Richard North, brexiteer colleague of the late lamented Booker.
I’ve not heard of either Richard North or “Booker” – perhaps I should have done. But clearly he has a pedigree so was probably expecting this, or at least prepared.
I didn’t find it surprising at all. That particular meme isn’t particularly spicy by Pete’s standards.
Recently Richard north has been writing articles on TCW, I thought you might have seen that. And booker wrote the important work “seven basic plots” and lots of climate realist articles inthe telegraph and other places
Ah thanks for that.
I’m a subscriber to TCW but don’t make the time to read it- too busy working and having fun
I’d heard of Christopher Booker but nothing more – seems like he was very perceptive and prophetic
Booker was at Private Eye years ago before it became a woke rag. I think it was he who wrote the Old Sparky column which tore into global warming tosh every issue.
Sadly missed.
Policing: a knock on the door | Turbulent Times This is the father Richard North’s website.
Thanks – a good blog post there from his dad
Reading Richard North’s thought-provoking and measured posts every morning is an important part of my daily routine.
He regularly demonstrates just how far our mainstream news media filter and obfuscate in order to maintain the illusion that our interests are being looked after, when it’s evident that TPTB have an entirely different agenda.
Many have understood, and for many years, but Booker’s near unique skill was getting it into the public domain.
Much is basics A’ level Physics and Chemistry.
And being persistent and unafraid of being unpopular
My science learning stopped at O Level and much to me just seems like basic logic and common sense
It seems to me that the Daily Sceptic has just re-posted the offending post.
So are they going to arrest Toby?
Quite and in this case I say full credit to DS for having the guts to post this.
Indeed – maybe he is hoping for a test case.
Oh, bring it on!
Off topic but the digital ID petition was at around half a million this morning, now it’s over a million.
And Tommy Robinson is, of course, a proscribed organisation (but unofficially, you understand).
Tommy Robinson is an offence which can be punished with several years behind bars if the authorities so desire.
:->
In fact, he wasn’t the first.
His mistake was not to call for the death of Hamas, obviously. That would have been fine.
I was going to say Unbelievable, but regrettably in Sstarmer’s Britian it’s all too believable.
They’re poking the lion, and sooner or later, he’s gonna get really REALLY pissed off.
There really needs to be a test case to ram home the fact that Islam is not a race, Moslems are not a race, Man Utd are not a race, and Man Utd followers are not a race.
This madness needs to stop.
I’m sure I did some in-service training once where we learned that a racist incident had occurred when someone – anyone, it didn’t have to be someone you were talking to – perceived that there had been a racist incident. I don’t know whether that is actually true but it could explain the police response here. Utterly crazy.
That is indeed part of the criteria for a racist incident. If *anyone* perceives it to be a racist incident, it *is* a racist incident.
Where were these champions of the people when little poor white girls were being raped, tortured and killed by predominantly Pakistani Muslim men? or is stating that fact hurty and likely to send the police out to arrest the writer.
I do hope that the Police force are sued for what they have done, the sad thing is the head of the force and the Police carrying out these attacks on the population lose nothing, they get to keep their jobs, their fat pensions and it is us the tax payer, the same people they are suppresing with menaces who are having to fund their abhorrent behaviour.
The police need wholesale sackings and a complete change of personnel in these tragically despoiled Northern towns.
It’s a pity he forgot to add @F*** IDF, then Lord H would ensure he was in the clear.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/26/terror-case-against-kneecap-rapper-thrown-out/
Kneecap terror case thrown out after legal blunder Police and prosecutors were one day too late in getting Attorney General’s approval for case against Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh
I wonder whether it was an accident or something more sinister …
This has a simple solution.
Revoke any speech laws and in their place pass an law enshrining freedom of speech for all, like the American first ammendment.
Then the police will have no excuse or margin of interpretation to act like thugs (on that matter anyway).
I really don’t understand, is there anyone who is against a 1st ammendment type law in this country? If so why? If Americans can cope with it surely we can? Are we really so content with our enslavement?
I agree that a 1st amendment type law is essential, but the left is in charge these days. They have no problem cancelling people and getting them arrested if they don’t like what they say. The last thing they want is a freedom of speech law.
The Tories record on this subject is not as bad as Starmer and Hermer the harmers but the duplicitous Tories set the stage for this and failed where they used to excel; i.e., these con artists did nothing whatsoever to arrest the onset of individual and institutional wokeness (critical race theory and abject climate “crisis” hysteria and zealotry). Now the country reels as it makes its accelerating advance towards totalitarianism and hell for us all.
“Why?” is a good question. We (the liberal middle class – well I am liberal middle class anyway) have been brought up and conditioned to believe that we can make the world a better place by making everyone as liberal and wise as we are, and we certainly don’t want that process interfered with by nasty people saying nasty things. Fear. Fear of the established order being threatened if the wrong sort of speech takes hold. Most liberal middle class people I know think the US is a basket case country only kept from full on fascism by the noble Democrats.
“Fuck off to a muslim country & protest”.
They are bringing that country here, and with the globalists best wishes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_tH3QMuFts
HORRIFYING: Christian TikToker FATALLY EXECUTED By Muslims in France On Live Stream
Many years ago my girlfriend was arrested due to some financial shenanigans her boss had done (of which she was unaware). All was well in the end, but it was very stressful, so I have some understanding of what Pete must be going through. Anyway, one thing that I found shocking was quite how thick the police were. Some of the questions had to be heard to be believed. You must also be aware that it is an adversarial system. The police and prosecution are NOT interested in the truth; they are interested in securing a conviction. Nothing you say can help you, anything you say that can be held against you will be.
The more I see stuff like this, the more I am convinced James is right. This is clickbait. Eritis insuperabiles, si fueritis inseparabiles
Another demonstration, if one was necessary, of how thick Plod is
Take it to the bank. The Labour Party will cease to exist after the next GE
I am troubled by every piece about the intervention of police following tweets always come with excuses in defence of the offender (against the target of the hurty words). In this case the autism of the Gestapo-ed. The words are strong and highly impolite but the police action should be damned outright because it is just so wrong, so out of step with centuries of enlightened culture that respects our fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression.
The only thing that’s holding back the british public is the last chance that Reform wins power, if this doesn’t happen for one reason or another then civil war is guaranteed!
The police are unfixable.
Scrap them and start over with a fresh cohort of willing ex service personnel and pre- College of Policing officers, if they haven’t already retired.
A lot have retired, and couldn’t wait to do so.
Those whobhavent retired, can’t wait to do so.
A lot couldn’t wait for retirement, so resigned.
I agree that the police service is now too far gone. The calibre of recruit, the calibre of their training, the calibre of their supervision, and the calibre of senior officers has been so low for so long that there are insufficient numbers of ‘old school’ coppers left to remind everyone else how the Job should be done.
Like a lot of other retired officers, I received my letter in 2021 from the Commissioner asking me to return to my old job to help out. They would have put me on my old salary but stopped my pension. In effect, using my pension to pay me. In other words, I would be paying over half of my own salary myself. Cheeky bastards. The letter went into the bin to the sound of laughter.