A now-suspended Labour Party councillor who allegedly called for the throats of right-wing activists to be cut has been charged with encouraging violent disorder.
57-year-old Ricky Jones has been arrested and charged with with one count of encouraging violent disorder, the Crown Prosecution Service has said. The arrest follows the publication of footage purportedly recorded at a “message of peace” rally held by left-wing activists in Walthamstow on Wednesday, where a man appeared to make a “gesture to encourage others to act violently towards far-right protestors.”
UPDATE: Officers have arrested a man aged in his 50s at an address in South East London.
He was held on suspicion of encouraging murder and for an offence under the Public Order Act.
He is in custody at a south London police station. https://t.co/YVuXRStZzd
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) August 8, 2024
A man introduced to the crowd as a trade unionist and handed the microphone by the protest convenor told those present about information he’d received from railway industry colleagues alleging the placement of razor-blades on trains to cause injury to staff and the public. Responding to this news, the man was recorded to have said: “…these people don’t give a shit about who they hurt… they are disgusting, nasty fascists. We need to cut all their throats, and get rid of them all”, while making a gesture of drawing his finger across his throat.
Subsequently, the Labour Party said they had withdrawn the whip from one of their elected politicians, a Kent Councillor, named as Ricky Jones. The party said then: “This behaviour is completely unacceptable and it will not be tolerated. The councillor has been suspended from the party.”
The Metropolitan Police said on Friday that following the arrest, Jones had appeared in court this afternoon and was remanded in custody pending his next appearance, scheduled to be at Inner London Crown Court on September 6th.
Speculation and rumour-sharing online has been a matter of persistent annoyance to the government in the days of disorder across England and Wales since a mass stabbing of young children in Merseyside last Monday. The Met shared a particular warning not to endanger the court case by prejudicing proceedings on Friday, stating “nothing should be published, including on social media”.