EDL targets school after pupil ‘disciplined’ over anti-bullying

ASCHOOL has been targeted by the founder of the English Defence League and his supporters, after one of its pupils cited Tommy Robinson as an anti-bullying exemplar.

Swansea’s Birchgrove Comprehensive has been bombarded with messages from supporters of Mr Robinson, who is also the former joint vice-chairman of the British Freedom Party.

It comes after the 35-year-old posted a message on social media, in which he claimed a pupil at the school had been disciplined for his response to an exercise to mark antibullying week.

Pupils were invited to put names on a board of people they thought worthy of respect, and one of the children wrote the name Tommy Robinson, adding “because he stands up for the British public”.

Claiming the incident was an example of how the “education system has been infiltrated by far-left fascists”, Mr Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, alleged that the school’s headteacher had threatened to notify the police of what the pupil had done.

Swansea council, speaking on the school’s behalf, claimed the allegation the headteacher had threatened to call the police was not true.

After Mr Robinson highlighted the incident on social media, hundreds of his supporters posted messages of support for his comments, as well as sending them directly to the school.

The situation has led to the school deleting its Twitter account.

A sign was also left outside the school, since removed, with the name Tommy Robinson and an illustration of a heart.

On his Facebook page, Mr Robinson added that if his child was attending Birchgrove Comprehensive School: “I would make a complaint, just saying.” One supporter claimed on the school’s Facebook page: “He [the headteacher] has no right to do that and should be sacked, lose his pension, and have his citizenship removed... He should be on a train to Calais – one way.”

At a meeting of Swansea Council’s cabinet meeting yesterday, council leader Rob Stewart said the authority was aware of an “emerging situation” at Birchgrove Comprehensive involving Tommy Robinson supporters “bombarding” the school with messages and “aggressive texts”.

He told colleagues: “This is totally unacceptable. We are a city of sanctuary, tolerance, and respect. It’s deplorable that supporters of Tommy Robinson would target young people with messages of hate.”

In an official statement he added later: “Swansea is a city of sanctuary and has a proud record of standing up to extremism in all its forms. We will do so again. I fully support our teachers at Birchgrove Comprehensive School and I find it abhorrent that the events in the school have been badly and deliberately distorted. Birchgrove Comprehensive School is an excellent school. It is unacceptable for teachers and children to be the target of abuse by far right supporters on social media. Our teachers do an outstanding job and they will continue to give their full attention to educating our children and young people.”