Very few crimes end up with a punishment as deliciously ironic as this one. A group of armed men who travelled from Britain to France over the weekend, with the express purpose of intimidating and harassing immigrants, were quickly apprehended, sent home, and banned from parts of the EU nation.
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British anti-migrant protesters live-stream campaign of intimidation
In total, five offenders crossed the English Channel, carrying dangerous items including tear gas and pepper spray. Their spree of confrontational behaviour was also live-streamed and uploaded across various social media channels – making it relatively easy for law enforcement to track their movements.
The men, aged between 30 to 46, stand accused of plotting attacks against migrants in France, and even drove around in a ‘reinforced battle bus’, complete with armoured windows and metallic grills across the windscreen. Their ban from the region is now in force for a total of six months.
However, things could have been worse for the ‘ultra-right’ quintet. The most serious potential charge surrounded their possession of weapons. Tear gas bombs and batons were also part of their inventory, and if found guilty of related offences, a two-year jail term was on the cards.
The group has – for now – avoided prosecution, in a deal which saw them unceremoniously kicked out of the Nord and Pas-de-Calais administrative region. And although some will argue they got off lightly for their thuggish behaviour, one development has raised a wry smile among cynics.
French prosecutors force thugs to support aid charity
Alongside expulsion from France, each member of the group was told to pay £418 – or 500 Euros – to a migrant aid charity. The group left the UK to cause as much harm and disruption to immigrants as possible, only to end up becoming their benefactors. A detail they likely left out of their social media uploads.
As reported by AFP, an aid charity working in Calais were the first to report the intended acts of violence, as the group reportedly had previous. However, local police could not establish any prior evidence, and eventually, it was decided that the best way to deal with the Brits was to send them back home.
Still, nice of them to get to experience the sort of no-nonsense deportation laws they claim to be so in favour of…