A video captured by a doorbell camera has sparked outrage across social media, showing two plain-clothed officers from Greater Manchester Police visiting a grandmother after she criticized a Labour politician online.
Helen Jones reported feeling scared to post on social media again after the visit, during which the officers acknowledged that she had committed no crime. However, the 54-year-old interpreted their visit as an attempt to intimidate and silence a dissenting voice.
The incident took place just 48 hours after a complaint was filed regarding her social media activity.
🚨🇬🇧UK FREE SPEECH CRACKDOWN: POLICE TARGET GRANDMOTHER OVER FACEBOOK POSTS
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) February 23, 2025
Helen Jones was left shaken after 2 police officers arrived at her home – all because she criticized Labour Party councilors on Facebook.
Her crime? Calling for the resignation of officials caught in a… pic.twitter.com/py7nCBYYyM
The Greater Manchester Police’s actions have drawn criticism across social media, with users likening the footage to something out of East Germany. Authorities have previously encouraged the public to report “non-crime hate incidents,” which they have defined as anything you think might have been motivated by hostility or prejudice, even if you were not the intended “victim.”
GB News’ political commentator Alex Armstrong warned the UK is fast becoming a totalitarian nightmare, “where citizens are targeted over hard native and foreign criminals.”
Armstrong also noted that the majority of burglaries, rapes, shoplifting incidents, and car thefts go unsolved in the UK.
“The police are out of control,” said commentator Laurence Fox. “London’s streets ring out with antisemitic chants every weekend and they turn their backs.
Fox slammed police actions, describing the UK as a “two-tiered society.”
Referencing U.S. President J.D. Vance’s assertion that no European country should depend on American power unless they are committed to US values, Fox said he hopes the Trump administration turns its back on the UK, forcing them to fund their own defence rather than “pouring cash into the bottomless money pit of welfare statism.”
“America is a land of freedom, hope and prosperity,” he said. “Britain has become no different from China. Why would they want to ally themselves with a socialist regime like ours?”
Last week, during a speech at CPAC, Vance expressed concerns over Europe’s increasing hostility to free speech and argued that the US should not subsidize the defence of countries that suppress political speech.
“So the point that I try to make to our European friends, and I think that they are friends,” he said. “I believe that, I know President Trump does, is that friendship is based on shared values.
“You do not have shared values if you’re jailing people for saying we should close down our border. You don’t have shared values if you cancel elections because you don’t like the result. And that happened in Romania. You don’t have shared values if you’re so afraid of your own people that you silence them and shut them up.”
VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: "Germany's entire defense is subsidized by the American taxpayer. There are thousands upon thousands of American troops in Germany today. Do you think that the American taxpayer is going to stand for that? If you get thrown in jail in Germany for posting… pic.twitter.com/eu1w5w78oI
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) February 20, 2025
