Michael Abberton, a Green Party activist in Cambridgeshire, was visited by two police officers on Saturday who had been sent by a local councilor from Ukip (a party that lets you express your xenophobia, racism, sexism and homophobia by cloaking it in a respectable "concern about immigration") who objected to a tweet that enumerated some of Ukip's most extreme positions. The police told him that they he wasn't legally obliged to follow their command, and also told him he wasn't allowed to tweet about their visit, but that he wasn't legally obliged to obey that command either. After the police left, a Ukip supporter sent Abberton a threatening tweet that implied that he knew that he'd been visited by the police.
10 Great Reasons to vote #UKIP. I don't know who made it – so I referenced it from official #UKIP websites pic.twitter.com/GXnikZ3Blg
— Michael Abberton (@MichaelAbberton) May 5, 2014
Ukip, standing up for traditional British values, like censorship.
I'd like to be absolutely clear – the police officers were extremely professional and polite and I couldn't fault their behaviour in any way. But it wasn't until after they left that I questioned why they had visited me in the first place. A complaint had been made but with no legal basis. Not a police matter. So why did they come to my home in the middle of a Saturday afternoon? Also, seeing as my profile doesn't have my location – how did they know my address, or even the town I live in?
About fifteen minutes after they left I received a threatening tweet from a party member I had had an exchange with earlier in the day. Though appearing to be no more than a party supporter, he seemed to know that the police had been involved. I copied the tweet and sent it to the police.
I contacted some people I'd had exchanges with involving this party. One of them put me in touch with a solicitor and a journalist and advised that I contact my MP, which I've done. And whilst acknowledging the fact that the police had no right to censure my posts, in order to show goodwill I removed all instances of the poster where I'd sent it @someone, and have not tweeted about the visit or about that political party since.
You are not allowed to read this blog [Michael Abberton/Axe of Reason]
Police ask blogger to remove tweet about Ukip [Martin Williams and Mark Tran/The Guardian]
