Julian Foulkes, a retired Special Constable, was arrested and held in a cell for eight hours over a tweet warning about the threat to British Jews posed by the pro-Palestinian marches. Kent Police has now admitted it made a mistake, but we need to make sure the police stop arresting people for perfectly lawful social media posts. Please donate to Julian’s crowdfunder so we can help him sue Kent Police for compensation.
In October of 2023, he responded to a tweet criticising Suella Braverman for describing the pro-palestinian protests that were sweeping the country in the aftermath of the massacre in Southern Israel as ‘hate marches’. Julian’s tweet, which appeared underneath, said: “One step away from storming Heathrow looking for Jewish arrivals…” This was a reference to reports of an anti-Semitic mob storming an airport in Dagestan, Russia, hunting for people arriving from Israel.
Someone complained about Julian’s tweet to the Met and Metropolitan Police Intelligence Command – a specialist unit set up to deal with terrorism and extremism – referred it to Kent Police, citing “concerns around online content”. The following day, six police officers turned up at his home, ransacked the premises, arrested him, detained him for eight hours and gave him a caution.
Julian retained the services of a solicitor and, with his help, got Kent Police to admit they’d made a mistake and delete the caution from his record.
However, we don’t think Kent Police should be allowed to get away with such appalling behaviour. At one point, a police officer searching his home pointed to books by Douglas Murray and copies of the Spectator and described them as “very Brexity things”, as though that in itself was suspicious.
The emotional fallout has been devastating. Julian lost one of his daughters in a hit-and-run 15 years ago and his surviving daughter now lives in Australia. His greatest fear while he was being held in police custody was that a criminal record might prevent him from visiting her — which is why, despite having done nothing wrong, he felt compelled to accept a caution. “My life wouldn’t be worth living if I couldn’t see her,” he said.
With our help, Julian, who has now joined the Free Speech Union, is going to sue the force for wrongful arrest, as well as unlawful interference in his right to liberty. After the ordeal he was put through, he deserves to be given a substantial sum in compensation. But to hold Kent Police to account he needs your help. Please donate to his crowdfunder so he can get the justice he deserves.
Kent Police’s actions point to a broader institutional failure. The authorities need to stop policing our tweets and start policing our streets.
The money raised by this crowdfunder will be used to cover the legal expenses Julian has run up so far, as well as the additional cost of suing Kent Police. Any money raised above what’s needed will be used by the FSU to fight other, similar cases.
Update: Thanks to the generosity of our members and supporters we reached our initial target of £50,000 in less than 24 hours. Consequently, we have now increased the target to £100,000. Any money not used to cover Julian’s legal costs will be spent on fighting other, similar legal cases.
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