Trump draws heavy fire for far-right retweets
BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May has issued her first direct condemnation of Donald Trump after he promoted anti-Islamic hate videos posted by a leader of a British far-right group.
Her spokesman branded the US president “wrong” for sharing three “hateful” videos with his 43.6 million followers on Twitter.
Mrs May is now under pressure to withdraw the invitation of a state visit for Mr Trump, with one British government source suggesting such a trip had been “kicked into grass as long as it can get”.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby added his voice to the condemnation, urging Mr Trump to delete the retweets.
The inflammatory videos were posted by Jayda Fransen (below), deputy leader of Britain First, an extremist organisation that has carried out “mosque invasions” and provocative “Christian patrols” in ethnically diverse areas.
Ms Fransen faces charges in two British courts for racially aggravated harassment and using threatening and abusive language. The 31-year-old from Penge, south-east London, said she was delighted to have received Mr Trump’s endorsement and believed he was offering crucial support ahead of the court cases.
The first of Ms Fransen’s videos retweeted by Mr Trump early yesterday morning purported to show an attack on a teenager by a Muslim youth and was captioned “Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!”
Dutch newspapers reported last night that the incident was filmed last May in a town outside Amsterdam but that there was no evidence the attacker was Muslim or an immigrant.
Another video promoted by the president was captioned “an Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!” and showed footage dating back four years of a riot in Egypt in which a 17-year-old was thrown from a building.
The third video was of an al-Qa’ida militant smashing a statue of the Virgin Mary after taking control of a Christian town in Syria in 2015.
After consulting Mrs May, who is on a trip abroad, her spokesman issued a statement condemning Mr Trump for promoting Ms Jansen’s views. The spokesman said: “Britain First seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions.
“They cause anxiety to lawabiding people. British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far right, which is the antithesis of the values that this country represents – decency, tolerance and respect.
“It is wrong for the president to have done this.”
It is reckoned to be the first time that Mr Trump has been directly criticised by Mrs May, ratcheting up tensions between the two leaders ahead of a likely visit to London in 2018.
Jeremy Corbyn, the UK Labour leader, said the tweets were “abhorrent, dangerous and a threat to our society.” The White House said it was irrelevant whether the videos were genuine.
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: “I think you’re focusing on the wrong thing.
“The threat is real and that’s what the president is talking about... there’s nothing fake about that.” (© Daily Telegraph London)
Tweets were ‘abhorrent ... and a threat to society’