Former UKIP canvasser arrested for anti-Muslim Facebook posts
Categories: Latest News
Monday June 10 2013
The Northern Echo reports that a former UKIP canvasser whose anti-Muslim Facebook posts were passed to the police has been arrested “on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred under the Public Order Act”.
Tony Nixon, who posted comments such as: “Instead of turning Ground Zero into a mosque why not turn some mosques into ground zero?”, and “several offensive photographs including…a photograph of pigs eating copies of the Koran”, canvassed for the UK Independence Party in the local elections in May, according to the paper.
UKIP suspended his membership and is currently conducting an investigation into the allegations. Nixon is one of several UKIP members whose social media accounts have highlighted racist and anti-Muslim views posted online.
A spokeswoman for North Yorkshire Police said: “We can confirm that a 66-year-old man from Great Broughton was arrested on May 23, 2013 after racist and offensive comments were posted on a Facebook page.
“The man has been released on police bail while the investigation continues.”