Piers Corbyn arrested over leaflets comparing UK’s vaccine programme to Auschwitz
Piers Corbyn, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s brother, has been arrested for handing out leaflets comparing the nation’s Covid vaccination programme to Auschwitz.
The Metropolitan Police told London newspaper Jewish News: “Officers investigating reports of malicious material in the form of a leaflet being circulated in south London in late January have made two arrests.
“A 73-year-old man was arrested in Southwark on Wednesday 3 February on suspicion of malicious communications and public nuisance.”
MPs yesterday welcomed a police investigation into the conspiracy theorist’s pamphlets, which featured a cartoon of the Nazi death camp where 1.1m people were murdered between 1940 and 1945.
Southwark Labour MP Neil Coyle said: “I’m glad the police are investigating this offensive material and I hope a prosecution is secured. It is important to prevent this offensive Holocaust imagery and appalling anti-vaccine nonsense being circulated.”
A sketch of the Auschwitz gates’ famous inscription “Arbeit macht frei” — translating to “Work sets you free” — was changed to “Vaccines are safe path to freedom”.
The pamphlets had been hand-delivered in several areas around London, including Jewish homes in Barnet, north London and to residents in Southwark, south London.
It is understood the leaflets were distributed in the days after Holocaust Memorial Day last Wednesday.
Corbyn is a vocal figure in both the antivax and anti-lockdown communities, hosting an anti-lockdown protest on London’s Southbank on New Year’s Eve.
The former Labour leader’s brother also leads the Stop New Normal and #OurMovement groups, which both claim to be fighting against the “Covid Con”, vaccines, lockdowns and face masks.