Far-right group built gallows, tried to arrest London mayor over criticism of Trump

Supporters of President Trump built gallows and attempted a citizens arrest of London Mayor Sadiq Khan Saturday over Khan’s criticism of Trump.

The Washington Post reported that a group of men, led by an anti-Islamic nationalist, brought the gallows out onto the street outside of an event where Khan, the city’s first Muslim mayor, was giving a speech on Saturday. The gallows featured a white dragon and read “TAKE BACK CONTROL.”

The group interrupted the event ahead of Kahn’s speech, ultimately delaying it by 15 minutes while they attempted a citizens arrest of the London mayor and other officials, according to reports.

The men were led by David Russel, who reporters identified as a member of the far-right English Defense League and the host of an anti-Islamic radio show.

Russell and the other members of his group — which he told reporters was called the Pendragons — entered and walked up to the front of the event, with Russel live streaming.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are here today to make a peaceful, nonviolent citizen’s arrest of those named,” one of the men said, listing Khan, Parliament member Kate Green and two other speakers at the event.

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A guard attempted to intervene, but Russell insisted he could not be touched by the guard. He also said he had called the police before the event and told those in the crowd officers would soon arrive to arrest Khan, according to The Post.

One of the men also approached Khan holding an American flag.

“Mr. Khan, there’s millions of British people supporting Donald Trump,” he said. The crowd booed in response.

When police did arrive, they told Russel and his group they would have to leave.

Russel produced a piece of paper that he said listed the grounds for Khan’s arrest and outlined his complaints against the mayor.

“We don’t do citizen’s arrests. We do lawful arrests,” the officer replied.

Eventually, the men left the event, which the crowd applauded, and Khan began to speak again.

Kahn tweeted that his speech was about how “we cannot allow a populist, anti-feminist narrative to take hold in Britain.”

“It’s a pleasure to be here, even though we were distracted by the actions of what some would call very stable geniuses,” Khan joked.

Khan and Trump have repeatedly butted heads in the past. Trump attacked Khan over a terror attack in London last year. Khan later called for Trump’s trip to Britain to be canceled after he retweeted anti-Islamic videos from a far-right British group.

Trump announced earlier this week that he was canceling his trip to London over an Obama administration deal to sell the US Embassy there, although the decision to sell the property was made by Bush administration officials.

Khan responded by saying Trump had “got the message” that he wasn’t welcome in the city.