15
2
"The Prime Minister should make it absolutely clear that if Donald Trump comes to this country he'll be arrested for inciting religious hatred and therefore he'd be better off not coming at all."
So said Chris Bryant on Wednesday.
r of parliament from Britain's Labour Party — its equivalent of the Democratic Party (if the Democrats were led by a guy who makes Bernie Sanders look pro-capitalist) — and a former government minister.
Don't get me wrong, Bryant's call to arrest the U.S. president is patently absurd: The U.K. government would never allow it, and the Metropolitan Police's Protection Command (the British equivalent of the Secret Service) would arrest anyone who tried it. And if a wannabe arrester somehow got through the British Police, they would not enjoy Secret Service-like controlled escalation tactics. Trump will visit the U.K. next year, and Prime Minister Theresa May was right to invite him.
That said, Bryant's message is useful in what it tells us about free speech laws in Britain.
Because Bryant may well be correct when he says Trump has committed a crime by posting videos that show Islamic extremist behavior.