A British man whose absurd, anti-Muslim tweets went viral yesterday has been arrested, with the Metropolitan police confirming that they are holding the 46-year-old in custody on suspicion of inciting racial hatred via social media.
Matthew Doyle, a partner at a London-based talent and PR agency, was widely mocked across the social networking site yesterday after posting a tweet explaining how he had “confronted a Muslim women [sic]” in order to get her to “explain Brussels”, in reference to the terrorist attacks that had taken place earlier this week in the Belgium capital. The tweet garnered a lot of attention, receiving hundreds of replies and being circulated across the site by users largely condemning the man’s ridiculous accosting of an innocent woman.
But on the evening of the same day that Doyle posted the tweets, Croydon Metropolitan Police Service posted a tweet of their own, stating that a suspect had been arrested for inciting racial hatred on Twitter:
Suspect arrested for inciting racial hatred on twitter #ZDERTD #WeStandTogether #Croydon #Community @CroydonAd pic.twitter.com/BcjcKAPrFl
— Croydon MPS (@MPSCroydon) March 23, 2016
While Doyle’s tweets were incredibly stupid, there have been many who have pointed out how Doyle being arrested for his social media activity is an alarming reaction to them. In response to CMPS’s tweet, one user wrote: “I’m so pleased there is no crime in Croydon so you have the bandwidth for this shit.” Another added: “The guy is an idiot, but arresting him seems equally idiotic.”
It has yet to be confirmed whether Doyle has been charged with a crime. One of his final tweets posted before his arrest reads: “Thanks all you tweeters for proving I can still do PR. I really was thinking about throwing the towel (head) in!”
