Brent’s Labour and Conservative leaders have come together to unanimously condemn the US President Donald Trump’s ‘vile hate’ tweeting.
Council leader Cllr Muhammed Butt and opposition leader Cllr John Warren issued a joint statement after Trump, who has more than 40 million twitter followers, shared anti-Muslim videos from far right group British First.
Cllrs Butt and Warren said: “Even by his own standards President Trump has managed to dredge new depths by retweeting vile hate filled messages from the British far right which attempt to normalise hatred towards Muslims.
“It would be nice to dismiss the divisive and dangerous views expressed in Washington as irrelevant to community life in Brent, but sadly Trump has such a wide social media following that he risks legitimising and emboldening the voices of discord here too.
“In contrast, Brent stands together in expressing our rejection of hate and our embracing of hope. Brent is no place for hate.”
Yesterday morning Trump retweeted three inflammatory videos from Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of Britain First, claiming in one “Muslim migrants beating up a Dutch boy on crutches”, in another an “Islamist mob” pushing a teenager off a roof and, in another, alleging “Muslim destroys a statue of the Virgin Mary!”
The misleading unverified tweets and Trumps response to them caused wide condemnation across the UK.
In September Brent Council unanimously agreed a motion against hate crime and has produced a No Place for Hate handbook with details of advice and support services in the borough.
For more information on hate crime and how to report it go to the council’s website
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