Food for Thought #1155

 

Police Track Down to Pub Man Who Criticised Green Councillor Over Outdoor Drinking Ban

Two Met police officers have tracked down to a pub a man who had criticised a local Green councillor over an outdoor drinking ban, sparking concerns that Britain is becoming a police state. The Mail has more.

This is the extraordinary moment two Met police officers tracked down a photographer to a pub over his critical tweets about a local Green councillor – despite admitting he had committed no crime.

Alastair Hilton was having a drink with a friend in Chiswick, west London, on Thursday night when uniformed officers grilled him about his social media posts.

Hilton feared being arrested when he was asked to step outside by two policemen as he celebrated a victory for his community over the Labour-run council and saved outdoor seating outside three much-loved pubs on the Thames.

As the debate over ‘two-tier policing’ in the UK continues to rage, an irate Hilton told the officers that his terrified daughter had suffered an attempted burglary while she slept just weeks earlier – and claimed that police had refused to attend.

Yet last night the Met had dispatched officers to a pub to track him down and question him about some of his tweets, despite acknowledging that there had been no crime.

At one point an officer even read out the legislation under which Scotland Yard would arrest him if he crossed the line.

Hilton has said: “They admit on video that I did not break the law at all. They came to threaten me. To warn me off tweeting about councillors and the council. This is modern Britain. This is the police state. Police coming out to threaten someone who hasn’t committed a crime. I’m fuming.”

The incident is yet another case where police have appeared to meddle in free speech....<<<Read More>>>...