Tommy Robinson has claimed he was arrested in Canada last night over an ‘outstanding immigration warrant’ after speaking at an event.
Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, appears to have been detained by officers outside the Carriage House Hotel and Conference Centre in Calgary.
Video footage showed the far-Right activist being taken away in handcuffs by a team of police as he laughed and protested that the arrest was ‘absolutely insane’.
He could be heard asking an officer: ‘What have I got a warrant out for?’ They replied: ‘You’ve got an outstanding immigration warrant, we’ll talk about it in the vehicle.’Â
Robinson was then put in a car and driven away. It appears the 41-year-old was later released, but he claims to have now been prevented from leaving Calgary.
A file photograph of Tommy Robinson speaking at Parliament Square in London on June 1
The English Defence League founder later tweeted: ‘OK I’m free, well sort of. None of this makes sense, I’m now detained in Calgary, prevented from leaving the city.
‘These conditions stop me from continuing my tour of Canada and meeting with guests for podcasts. I’m not even allowed to leave to travel home.’
MailOnline has contacted the Calgary Police Service for comment.Â
Robinson had been speaking at an event called ‘An Evening with Tommy Robinson’, organised by far-Right media website Rebel News and its founder Ezra Levant.
General admission tickets were CA$50 (£29), while a ‘VIP’ package including a ‘meet and greet’ with Robinson was on sale for CA$250 (£144).
He also had a speaking event booked in Edmonton tonight, with the exact location not revealed to ticket holders until this morning – but this is now in doubt. Then this Sunday, Robinson also had a similar engagement in Toronto.
Robinson had been at the Carriage House Hotel and Conference Centre in Calgary (file image)
It comes one week after the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) in the UK filed papers on June 18 to begin potential contempt of court proceedings after Robinson allegedly breached an injunction in a libel case he lost.
In 2021, Syrian refugee Jamal Hijazi successfully sued Robinson after the then-schoolboy was assaulted at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in October 2018.
After a clip of the incident went viral, Robinson made false claims, including about Mr Hijazi attacking girls in his school, leading to the libel case.
Following Mr Hijazi’s successful libel claim, Mr Justice Nicklin ordered Robinson to pay him damages and his legal costs, as well as making an injunction preventing Robinson from repeating the allegations he made against the then-teenager.
Campaign group Hope Not Hate alleged that Robinson had ignored the injunction and repeated the allegations, providing a ‘dossier of evidence’ to the AGO. A hearing in the potential contempt proceedings is now expected at the High Court on July 29.
Tommy Robinson is led away by police officers during a march in London in November last year
In August 2022, Robinson was fined £900 for failing to turn up at a High Court hearing to be questioned about his finances related to pre-trial costs in the case of around £43,000.
Robinson was previously jailed after being found in contempt of court after he filmed men accused of the sexual exploitation of young girls and live-streamed the footage on Facebook, in breach of a reporting ban, outside Leeds Crown Court in May 2018.
He was sentenced to 13 months in jail after being found in contempt of court on the day of the broadcast, but served just two months before being freed after that finding of contempt was overturned by the Court of Appeal in August 2018.
The case was then referred back to the Attorney General and he was jailed again in July 2019.