LONDON — British anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson announced Saturday that he was stopped at Heathrow Airport and had his mobile phone taken by police, following a week in which he flooded social media with commentary about racist and anti-immigrant riots in Northern Ireland.
Robinson, who goes by the name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon in legal settings, posted on X that he was held Saturday evening for approximately three hours under the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act.
“My phone has been seized by the police,” he wrote on X. “Please help kick off my legal fund for defence.”
Throughout the previous week, Robinson had repeatedly posted about violence that erupted across Belfast after a video spread widely online showing a man being stabbed in a brutal attack that cost him an eye. A Sudanese man has since been charged with attempted murder. Authorities have stated the attack is not being investigated as an act of terrorism.
In the aftermath of that stabbing, rioters went on to target homes and businesses belonging to ethnic minorities and foreign residents — actions that the British minister responsible for the province described as racist thuggery.
Local elected officials have alleged that far-right figures operating online helped to organize or amplify the violence.
A police spokesperson, without identifying Robinson by name, confirmed that officers had stopped a man in his 40s at Heathrow Airport on Saturday following his arrival back in Britain from Russia, where he had traveled through Turkey.
“The man was interviewed by officers and his communication devices were seized. He was subsequently released,” the spokesperson said.
