Labour's candidate in Batley and Spen was confronted by an angry Muslim activist on Friday who had travelled over a hundred miles to say his piece. Kim Leadbeater was campaigning outside a local mosque in the constituency when the incident occurred. Accompanied by Bradford West MP Naz Shah, Leadbeater endured a torrid few minutes as the man raged about Kashmir and accused Labour of taking Muslim votes for granted. Shah stepped in to try and defuse the situation, but the man - who freely admitted he had travelled all the way from Birmingham - was having none of it. The video ends in Leadbeater storming off.
The above video was posted online by an Islamist news site, but there is a distinct cut in the footage. The section that has been edited out shows the man ranting about LGBT education in schools. Another angle posted online shows this part and also shows the man confronting Leadbeater again as she gets into her car. Watch below and note his smile as he walks away having said his final bit - his whole persona of outrage appears to be purely theatrics and worthy of an acting award!
We have encountered this Islamist before on these pages. Click here to see footage of him confronting Birmingham Yardley MP Jess Phillips back in May 2019. His name is Shakeel Afsar and he was instrumental in orchestrating protests outside a Birmingham school against LGBT lessons. At the time his protest was backed by Roger Godsiff, the Labour MP for Birmingham Hall Green, a move that ultimately led to Godsiff being deselected.
In response to the Batley incident, Labour suggested that George Galloway was behind it. They accused their former MP of standing on the opposite side of the road and laughing during the episode. Leadbeater said a statement: "We were out campaigning outside one of the local mosques and then suddenly there was a big group of mainly men, I would say, who started shouting at me in the street, trying to say they were asking me questions, but they certainly weren’t giving me a chance to answer any questions, some of them not local. George Galloway was at the other side of the street laughing, and I was extremely intimidated".
Labour leader Keir Starmer also pointed the finger at Galloway: "The abuse Kim Leadbeater has faced is disgraceful. George Galloway’s poisonous politics have no place in our country". We can't find any links between the two men and Galloway has since tweeted that the man is an 'extremist' and 'provocateur'.
Afsar clearly fancies himself as a figurehead for something, but he is yet to establish any political group or platform that provides Muslims with an alternative to Labour. In two years he has amassed just 400 followers on Twitter. Lame.
