England: "...Policing our tweets at the expense of policing our streets."

 From the "Get rid of hate speech laws" files comes yet another example. This time reported at Fox News.

The co-creator of the U.K. sitcom "Father Ted" was arrested at London Heathrow Airport on Monday allegedly over several social media posts criticizing transgender activists. 

Graham Linehan recounted the ordeal on his Substack, saying there were signs of something strange happening before he landed in London. 

According to the former comedy writer, a gate agent in the U.S. said he did not have a seat on his flight back home and needed to be issued a new ticket – something he didn’t think much of at the time. However, since the arrest, Linehan wrote on Substack that he believes he was flagged because "someone, somewhere, probably wearing unconvincing make-up" made a call.

When he got off the plane at Heathrow, Linehan was met by five armed officers, who told him he was being arrested over three posts on X.

"In a country where pedophiles escape sentencing, where knife crime is out of control, where women are assaulted and harassed every time they gather to speak, the state had mobilized five armed officers to arrest a comedy writer for this tweet (and no, I promise you, I am not making this up)," Linehan wrote.

In one of the posts, Linehan wrote that "if a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act." He then said those encountering such a scenario should make a scene, call police or even "punch" the offender.

He said officers questioned him about the post, and he explained it was a serious point expressed with humor...

Linehan said the only restriction on his bail was that he was banned from using X...

The former comedy writer added that the ordeal confirmed to him that "the U.K. has become a country that is hostile to freedom of speech, hostile to women, and far too accommodating to the demands of violent, entitled, abusive men who have turned the police into their personal goon squad."

"Harry Potter" creator J.K. Rowling, who has also been an outspoken critic of trans activism, slammed the arrest, writing "What the f--- has the U.K. become? This is totalitarianism. Utterly deplorable."

...Lord Toby Young of Acton confirmed to Fox News Digital that the Free Speech Union would be paying for Linehan's legal team.

"The over-zealous policing of social media posts by the British police is turning the country into an international laughingstock," Young told Fox News Digital. "It’s particularly egregious, given that the police only respond to one in five shoplifting offenses and 75% of burglaries went unsolved last year. They are policing our tweets at the expense of policing our streets."

Five armed officers to arrest one 50 year old unarmed comedian! Five officers who should be out on the streets fighting serious crimes.

That's a crime.