UK man held after pressing Muslim to ‘explain’ Brussels
Matthew P. Doyle, a PR professional, sees tweet recounting incident spoofed online; is detained for inciting racial hatred
A British man was arrested on Wednesday night on suspicion he incited to racial hatred, following a tweet he posted recounting his confrontation with a Muslim woman when he demanded she “explain” the Brussels terror attacks.
Following Tuesday’s deadly attacks, in which at least 31 people were killed and over 200 were injured, Matthew P. Doyle wrote on Twitter: “I confronted a Muslim woman yesterday in Croydon. I asked her to explain Brussels. She said ‘Nothing to do with me.’ A mealy mouthed reply.”
Doyle, whose Twitter feed is peppered with references to Muslims as “towel heads,” was arrested Wednesday for incitement to racial hatred, but not before internet users had a little fun with parodies of the original post.
Boyle — who according to The Daily Mail is a PR professional in a south London firm — didn’t appear to mind the attention, retweeting some parodies and news stories about his post.
It was not immediately clear if Boyle was arrested in connection with the incident mentioned in the tweet or other social media posts.