British far-right figure re-arrested in N. Ireland

By Muhammad Mussa

LONDON

The deputy leader of a small British far-right party who was recently retweeted by Donald Trump was released on bail earlier Friday, a day after her rearrest in Belfast, police said.

Britain First's Jayda Fransen was re-arrested just hours after she appeared in a magistrate's court in Belfast on Thursday on charges of using hate speech at a rally in Northern Ireland in August.

"A 31-year-old woman, arrested today, Thurs, 14 Dec, has been charged with using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour," the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said in a statement.

However, after attending a hearing on Friday morning, she was released on bail, a decision in which the police rejected.

Fransen had filmed herself at one of Belfast’s ‘Peace Walls’ which divide Protestant and Catholic communities. In it she claimed "we are descending into a civil war" with Islam and that it was time for the British people to stand up and fight to gain control of their country.

Paul Golding, the leader of Britain First, has also been released on bail after his arrest on Thursday as he accompanied Fransen to her court hearing.

He will appear at a hearing in the same court in January. He was charged with using hate speech at the same rally attended by Fransen.

Earlier this week, a video recorded in Belfast was posted on the social media account of the anti-Muslim fringe group where Fransen spoke of the "Islamification of the mainland" and how Belfast’s central mosque was a "den of iniquity".

Belfast City councillor Tim Attwood criticized the video.

"I condemn the grotesque and offensive comments made by [...] Jayden Fransen from Britain First outside the Islamic Centre last night," he said.

"There can be no place in Belfast for abusive comments such as ‘Muslims [sic] communities are trying to achieve colonization' or 'Campaigning against dens of iniquities'," Attwood added.

Fransen gained international notoriety after her anti-Muslim video clips were retweeted by U.S. President Donald Trump last month, a move criticized by U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May.

"I am very clear that the retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do," she said.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd also denounced Britain First as "an extremist organization which seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives which spread lies and stoke tensions".

"President Donald Trump was wrong to retweet videos posted by the far-right group Britain First," Rudd added.