A EUROPEAN election candidate from Dorset has been arrested on suspicion of “religious or racial harassment” in a Hampshire city.
Liberty GB candidate Paul Weston had been reading a Winston Churchill quote describing Islam as “militant” and “retrograde” through a megaphone outside Winchester’s Guildhall on Saturday afternoon.
Standing on the steps of the Guildhall, he addressed passers-by with an excerpt from Churchill’s book The River War, written in 1899.
Police were called after complaints from members of the public, and the 50-year-old, from Dorset, was told to leave but failed to do so. He was later relased on bail.
He is one of three Liberty GB candidates standing to represent the South East as MEPs.
Mr Weston said: “I thought there was no point in competing with UKIP in talking about the EU, so I would talk to the people of Winchester about Islam.”
Police officers speak to election candidate Paul Weston
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