Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told a Sky News reporter that officials will also be cracking down on foreigners over their social media posts about the riots in the UK, which broke out in the aftermath of the mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event that left three children dead and others wounded.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has faced backlash over his remarks which did not address the legitimate grievances of Britons concerned over the effects of the influx of migrants in their communities. He vowed to prosecute "far-right thugs" without mentioning the hordes of knife-wielding immigrants attacking white Britons in their communities.
“We will throw the full force of the law at people," Rowley told Sky News. "And whether you’re in this country committing crimes on the streets or committing crimes from further afield online, we will come after you."
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and others have been criticizing Starmer’s response to the riots over the past week on X, suggesting the UK is headed toward “civil war.” He has since been calling out the country's corrupt justice system which gives lax court sentences to violent criminal immigrants, while jailing concerned Britons longer for their social media posts in the name of combatting 'hate speech.'
The Sky News reporter claims that high profile figures have been “whipping up the hatred,” and that “the likes of Elon Musk” have been getting involved. She then asked what the police plan will be “when it comes to dealing with people who are whipping up this kind of behavior from behind the keyboard who may be in a different country?”
Rowley said, “Being a keyboard warrior does not make you safe from the law.”
“You can be guilty of offenses of incitement, of stirring up racial hatred, there are numerous terrorist offenses regarding the publishing of material,” the commissioner said. “All of those offenses are in play if people are provoking hatred and violence on the streets, and we will come after those individuals just as we will physically confront on the streets the thugs and the yobs who are taking -- who are causing the problems for communities.”
Rowley's comments drew swift condemnations from social media users, especially Americans who said such fascist comments fly in the face of western democratic norms, and definitely against the First Amendment of the United States constitutions which has robost protections for free speech rights.
'TwoTierKeir' trended recently on social media as Musk and other critics trolled Starmer and the UK justice system with memes, triggering leftists online who apparently attacked the X owner for allowing free speech on the platform.
One reads: "The Brits gave up their guns. And now their government puts them in jail for Facebook posts."
