According to The Sun, crowds of indignant Tommy Robinson fans faced off with the police following the reading that he had been found in contempt of court on Friday.
Outside the court where the former English Defence League (EDL) leaders contempt of court order was being reviewed, fans erupted into anger upon hearing the verdict.
— PA Images (@PAImages) July 5, 2019
The crowd tried to block police from the public and chanted “shame on you”, an expression directed towards the court in response to what Mr Robinson called “the biggest political stitch-up we have ever seen”.
Robinson spoke to the crowd of supporters declaring that he had been found guilty for “who I am, not for what I've done.”
The Twittersphere reacted with both support and opposition to the verdict.
Opponents of the Mr Robinson called the fans "trouble makers" and called for the banning of their demonstrations.
— Nadeem Ahmed (@Muqadaam) July 5, 2019
Supporters expressed disdain with the sentence and likened it to censorship and an affront to journalism.
— klackmongo (@evertssonsimon) July 5, 2019
— Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) July 5, 2019
While those neutral on the subject pointed out the comparatively slow reporting of the case compared to that of the rape gangs.
— cheryl corless #CEP (@cherylcorless41) May 25, 2018
— Philip Roose (@PhRoose) May 26, 2018
He later spoke to RT, slamming the British government and legal system for its criticisms of press freedom in other countries while being sent to jail for a second time for reporting outside of a rape gang trial on Facebook live.
He said “the original charges have completely changed”, claiming that he’d been found guilty of causing anxiety for interviewing those standing trial for sexual crimes and for reading information live which was already available on the public sphere.
He was sentenced to 13-months prison time for broadcasting the Leeds criminal trial as well as a 3-month suspended sentence for a previous contempt of court charge in Canterbury in May 2017.
