President Donald Trump on Wednesday retweeted three anti-Muslim videos posted by the deputy head of a British far-right group who has been convicted of a hate crime.
One of them purports to show a Muslim beating up a Dutch boy on crutches. Another is described as showing an Islamist mob pushing a teenager of a rooftop.
The third allegedly depicts a Muslim throwing down and smashing a statue of the Virgin Mary.
The video of the Virgin Mary statue being wrecked has been on YouTube at least since 2013. It is labelled as showing a jihadist in Syria destroying the statue.
The footage was posted by, deputy leader of the far-right group Britain First.
The group, which was formed in 2011 and is known for picketing outside mosques, has ran and lost in several British and European parliament elections.
Fransen was found guilty last year of a hate crime after hurling abuse at a Muslim woman wearing a hijab.
There was widespread outrage in Britain at Trump’s retweets.
Brendan Cox, widower of MP Jo Cox who was murdered by a right-wing extremist last year, said: “Trump has legitimised the far right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours.
“Spreading hatred has consequences & the President should be ashamed of himself,” he said.
David Lammy, an MP for the opposition Labour Party, said: “The President of the United States is promoting a fascist, racist, extremist hate group whose leaders have been arrested and convicted.
“He is no ally or friend of ours,” he said.
Stephen Doughty, another Labour MP, said the videos were “highly inflammatory” and his colleague Yvette Cooper said Trump had given Fransen a “huge platform”.
Fransen appeared to celebrate the retweets saying: “GOD BLESS YOU TRUMP! GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
Fransen and Britain First leader Paul Golding were due to appear in court on Wednesday for a pre-trial review on charges of “threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour” over a speech she made in Belfast.
Trump’s interventions in British politics and controversial foreign policy have strained the so-called “special relationship”.
He has infuriated British authorities with his tweets on terrorism in Britain, including highly publicised run-ins with London mayor Sadiq Khan.
Wednesday’s retweets were part of an early morning burst in which Trump again dismissed CNN as “Fake News” and insisted the US economy was in “record territory” by many measures.
Trump also said consumer confidence was at an all-time high.
“I guess somebody likes me (my policies)!” the president wrote.
AFP
