Facebook has deleted the homepage of the most prominent member of a group of “yellow vest” protesters who have harassed and abused MPs and journalists, as police began a more concerted response to their activities. However, on Tuesday afternoon both his Facebook pages were removed, with the company saying it “will not tolerate hate speech on Facebook which creates an environment of intimidation and which may provoke real-world violence”. Before the page was deleted he wrote on Facebook: “If the political class weren’t trying to thwart Brexit, then I wouldn’t have to approach these treacherous MPs. One of the small group of protesters who were outside said they had been told Goddard feared arrest if he arrived. Separately, the widower of the murdered Labour MP Jo Cox said threats of similar violence were being used to try to “intimidate, coerce and threaten MPs”.

Source: The Guardian January 08, 2019 08:37 UTC