Washington: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday retweeted three inflammatory videos from a British far-right group rife with anti-Muslim content.
The videos posted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First, a far-right and ultra-nationalist political group, depict purported Muslims assaulting people.
One purported to show a group of Muslims pushing a boy off a roof. Another claimed to show a Muslim destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary and another claimed to show immigrants hitting a Dutch boy on crutches.
The videos were tweeted by Fransen on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning before being picked up by Trump.
Fransen reacted jubilantly online, touting that the videos had been shared with Trump’s nearly 44 million followers. “GOD BLESS YOU TRUMP!” she wrote in all caps.
She was found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment in November 2016 after abusing a Muslim woman wearing a hijab while she was with her four children. Fransen was fined by the court and ordered to pay costs.
In a separate development, Fransen was also charged over using “threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour” during a speech she made in Belfast in Northern Ireland. She is set to appear at the Belfast Magistrates Court on December 14.
The retweets were immediately met with outrage in Britain. The Muslim Council of Britain slammed Trump, saying the retweets were “the clearest endorsement yet from the US President of the far-right and their vile anti-Muslim propaganda”, CNN reported.
“We cannot give such bigotry a free pass. We hope our Prime Minister and Home Secretary will distance the UK from Trump and his comments and will reiterate the government’s abhorrence to all forms of extremism,” the group said in a statement.
Brendan Cox, whose wife, British MP Jo Cox, was murdered by a right-wing extremist who shouted “Britain First” before committing the act, condemned the action.
TV presenter and journalist Piers Morgan, who has called himself a “friend” of the president, tweeted: “What the hell are you doing?”
“Please STOP this madness & undo your retweets,” he said.
The issue was raised in the UK Parliament and opposition Labour MP Yvette Cooper called on the government to condemn the actions of Trump.
–IANS