'Racist' tweet Telegraph columnist Pearson at heart of row with police
The Guardian|November 16, 2024
Daily Telegraph readers have woken up this week to successive front-page headlines alleging a grave threat to free speech, triggered by a star columnist's "Kafkaesque" encounter with police.
Vikram Dodd
'Racist' tweet Telegraph columnist Pearson at heart of row with police

The rightwing broadsheet described how Essex police told Allison Pearson on her doorstep last weekend that she was under investigation for allegedly stirring up racial hatred in a tweet last year.

The Telegraph and Pearson say they are unaware which post caused officers to knock on her door.

However, the Guardian believes it has found the post at the centre of the row. It is a retweet by Pearson of a photograph posted several months ago amid heightened tensions over the policing of Gaza protests. It shows a group of people of colour posing with a flag on a British street, flanked by three police officers.

The photograph angered Pearson, who tweeted condemning the Metropolitan police: "How dare they. Invited to pose for a photo with lovely peaceful British Friends of Israel on Saturday police refused. Look at this lot smiling with the Jew haters."

In fact, the picture is from Manchester, sources confirm, and thus the officers pictured are from Greater Manchester police (GMP) and not the London force.

This story is from the November 16, 2024 edition of The Guardian.

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This story is from the November 16, 2024 edition of The Guardian.

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