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A blogger has blasted British police after they arrested him for sharing a meme on social media that read “F— Hamas.”
Pete North, 47, filmed officers arriving at his Yorkshire home in the U.K. on Sept. 25 and telling him he was being detained because he had “posted something on the internet” that a member of their hate crime team “didn’t appreciate.”
The shocking footage shows an officer explaining that North was being arrested “on suspicion of publishing or distributing written material intended to stir up racial hatred.”
The post in question had been shared by North on X in August and featured a Palestinian flag with the words: “F— Palestine. F— Hamas. F— Islam. Want to protest? F— off to Muslim country and protest.”
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North confirmed to The Telegraph that although the meme contained offensive references to Palestine and Islam, officers in the interview at the station appeared preoccupied with the part directed at Hamas.
“The officer in the interview said, ‘Well, firstly, let’s start with the meme. You posted a meme that said f— Hamas,’” North recalled to the British outlet.
“I said, ‘yeah, I did post a meme that said f— Hamas, because Hamas are a proscribed terrorist organisation internationally, including in Britain’.”
He added: “I then asked him, ‘Just so we’re on the same page, you do know who Hamas are?’ And he just… shook his head. He looked totally blank. If you’re going to arrest people for memes, you probably need to pay more attention to current affairs.”
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North told The Telegraph he pressed the officer on whether he was aware of Hamas’s atrocities, including the murder of civilians on October 7. “He was totally oblivious,” North claimed.
After being questioned for several hours, North was released without charge.
“I feel quite strongly that what political cartoons and memes I post on social media is none of the police’s business,” North said.
“Nobody should be facing police inquiries for posting memes on Twitter. The whole point of this exercise is not to win convictions. It’s to terrorize people like me into thinking twice about posting spicy memes,” he added.
North Yorkshire Police confirmed the arrest, telling UK media: “A 47-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of publishing or distributing written material intended to stir up racial hatred. He has been released under investigation while inquiries continue.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to North Yorkshire Police for comment.
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