Freedom and democracy in Britain are “gone”, Tommy Robinson, leader of Pegida UK, has told Breitbart London’s Editor in Chief Raheem Kassam.
Speaking to Kassam on the radio this morning, Mr. Robinson said that his continued persecution by the state for speaking out against Sharia and Islamism proves that we now live “in a post-free-speech era now in the UK, and the state has huge arms.”
Since founding the English Defence League (EDL) seven years ago, with the aim of upholding English culture against a rising tide of Islamist influences, Mr. Robinson has been repeatedly targeted by Muslims who have attacked him so many times that he’s “lost count”. But nothing that had happened prepared him for the state stepping in to persecute him directly.
“Anyone can go on YouTube and see ‘Tommy Robinson attacked’ – you’ll see picture after picture, video after video of me being violently beaten up. I’ve had my face rearranged, I’ve lost my teeth, I’ve been hospitalised,” he told Kassam.
“I’ve had everything you can think of and there’s not been one single Muslim prosecuted. Not one person prosecuted. They’ve been given free rein to attack me and my family. A complete free rein.
“I was ready for that side; what I wasn’t ready for was the state level persecution.
“I can’t even begin to give a level to people … to understand the lengths they will go to, and what they will do to absolutely financially destroy you, and slander you, and destroy your entire life.
“Anything I love or anything I do, the police turn up and ruin.”
This weekend Mr. Robinson was again harassed by police who expelled him and his three young children, all aged under ten, from a pub in Cambridge – and the city itself – while they were watching football with friends.
Cambridgeshire Police has come in for a barrage of criticism on social media after Breitbart London posted footage of the incident, filmed by Mr. Robinson on his mobile phone.
Four officers can be seen in the video following the party down the road leading away from the pub while Mr. Robinson’s daughters sob hysterically in fear. The family were followed all the way to Cambridge train station, over a mile away, to ensure they left the city immediately.
Commenting on the incident, a police spokesperson said: “A group of 18 Luton Town football supporters at the Grain Store Pub in Cambridge were asked to leave the area at about 6.30pm on Saturday in order to prevent disorder.
“The group left peacefully, without the need for a dispersal order to be invoked.”
However, the video footage recorded by Mr. Robinson only shows police officers talking to him, and following his small party of three adults and seven children to the train station. At no point during his video can officers be seen asking other Luton supporters to leave.
When asked by Breitbart London whether Cambridgeshire Police had any proof that 18 football supporters in total were asked to leave the area, either in the form of names of those asked to leave, or video footage filmed by officers of others being asked to leave, or any other form of evidence they could release, a spokesman said: “Sorry, we don’t.”
Referring to an incident in 2013 in which Mr. Robinson and his friend and fellow EDL founder Kevin Carroll were arrested after being assaulted by two leftists while trying to complete a charity walk, Mr. Robinson told Kassam:
“What I’ve been so shocked at is that they [the police] don’t care that the world is watching this. They don’t care that everyone can see what’s happening. Those sorts of incidents that I’m videoing and everyone can see what’s going on; they’re not bothered by that.
“What they’re bothered [about] is silencing me, shutting people up, so they can continue with an agenda – which is to Islamify our country.”