Joey Barton, the former Manchester City and Newcastle footballer, has been experiencing incessant police visits as a result of his Twitter posts, creating what he describes as an uncomfortable atmosphere of intimidation akin to North Korean strong-arm tactics.
Barton, who has risen to prominence as a controversial figure in the sporting world, reported three visits from the UK police in just four days, aimed at “intimidating” his family and him.
On social media platform X, Barton opened up about his experience, detailing the instances of police disruption. He stated that he had shared his lawyer’s information with the police in response to their requests for a voluntary interview—a discussion regarding the content of his tweets.
One of his posts highlighted a disconcerting incident when, at 9:30 pm, two officers knocked at his door.
Barton’s situation spurred a public response, prompting a follower to question the waste of police resources investigating tweets while street crimes continue unabated. In acknowledgment, Barton expressed similar concerns. He decried the use of taxpayer money for social media policing while urgent criminal matters seemed to be neglected.
Barton, however, remains a target of condemnation due to his tweets about women’s roles in men’s football.
His online tweets often criticize some female pundits’ lack of knowledge about the sport.
Joey Barton’s unsettling encounters with the police raise concerns about the measures taken by authorities, which seem close to police-state tactics. While attempts to set up a voluntary interview between Barton and the police are yet to be successful, the matter certainly hints at the chilling threat to the freedom of speech that is now pervasive in the UK.
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