Citizen journalist and anti-grooming gangs campaigner Tommy Robinson has been cleared of charges he refused to obey a lawful police dispersal order. A day prior to Tuesday’s decision, he clashed with Victoria Bird, a corporate journalist for Comcast-owned Sky News, who proved ill-informed about the case.
Outside court, Bird had sneered at Robinson, saying, “most journalists don’t have criminal convictions.” Robinson responded that he had never been tried by a jury, and Bird responded that he was “about to be,” forcing him to correct her.
“No, I’m not,” he told her. “If you knew your facts, there’s no jury waiting in there.”
Scrambling to recover, the corporate journalist insisted he was being tried by a judge “due to the severity of the alleged offense.” Robinson asked what his alleged offense was, and it quickly became apparent Bird did not know. She had to look up the case on her phone, reading aloud that he was “charged with refusing to leave an anti-Semitism protest in London… failing to comply a Section 35 direction [sic] excluding a person from an area.”
Robinson, who asked Bird if she would “wait out here to apologize when it gets proven that this was all unlawful,” was cleared on Tuesday. A judge ruled he had “no case to answer.” The police did not have a lawful order to remove him, which they admitted under questioning.
However, Robinson said the judge “threatened” him for “intimidating” Sky News.
WATCH:
Wowwwwww.
Watch @TRobinsonNewEra make an absolute mug out of this Sky News “reporter” who had no idea what she was even reporting on.
Incredible. This is almost all of them. pic.twitter.com/hD1JtuSDB9
— Raheem. (@RaheemKassam) April 22, 2024
ARRESTED FOR COVERING A PUBLIC PROTEST.
Robinson was covering the March Against Anti-Semitism in London in November 2023 when Metropolitan Police officers approached him. The officers said his “presence in the area was likely to cause harassment, alarm, and distress to others.” He refused the order to leave, arguing it was contrary to his rights. Officers pepper sprayed and arrested him.
His bail conditions ahead of the current hearing included a near-total ban on being present in London. Police arrested him a second time for breaking these by celebrating his daughter’s birthday with her inside the capital.
Robinson reports it was Campaign Against Antisemitism chief executive Gideon Falter who had the Metropolitan Police remove him. This month, Falter complained bitterly when officers from the force threatened to arrest him for being near a pro-Palestinian protest. He was told his “openly Jewish” appearance could trigger a “reaction.”
Entire case dismissed!
The arrest was unlawful, the bail conditions were unlawful, everything that happened from start to finish was unlawful from the @metpoliceuk
Thank you to each and every one of you who supported me, giving me the best legal team in @carsonkayelegal pic.twitter.com/Et4SZ0X3i3
— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) April 23, 2024