Activist fined £75 for Hitler salute (From The Argus)

Activist fined £75 for Hitler salute

9:41am Monday 10th December 2012 in News

An Anti-Israeli activist gave a Hitler salute and goose-stepped at a demonstration outside a store.

Jack Summers, 23, a charity worker from Worcester Villas, Hove, pleaded guilty to racially or religiously aggravated harassment at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on December 6. He was fined £75 plus a £20 victim surcharge and £85 costs.

The incident happened during the regular protest outside the EcoStream store in Western Road on November 17.

The demonstrators have vowed to close down the shop because its parent company, SodaStream, has a factory in the Israeli settlement of Mishor Adumim in the West Bank.

Tony Greenstein, from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said Mr Summers was not affiliated to the group.

He said: “I would like to know whether he did this because he thought the pro-Israel group were Nazis or because they were Jewish.

“There’s a crucial difference. I would not normally condone this type of behaviour.”

On the same day, Sussex Police said, a man was arrested after attaching himself to the door handles of the store with a bicycle lock and failing to release himself when requested.

Andrzaj De Virion, 23, of no fixed address, was subsequently charged with aggravated trespass.

He appeared at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on December 6 where he pleaded not guilty and was bailed to return for trial on June 25, 2013.

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