Police say 11-year-old not arrested for controversial tweets
Rather, the arrest took place due to suspicion of taking part in violent riots
(Web Desk) - An 11-year-old was arrested in August on suspicion of violent disorder during riots in northeast England, not for “mean tweets” on social media, police told Reuters, contrary to posts widely shared online.
“BREAKING: British police have just arrested an 11 year old over his ‘mean tweets’ posted on social media,” posts on X and Facebook said.
The posts shared a photograph by PA Images of Cleveland Police raiding a house during arrests related to the violence that followed the fatal stabbing of three children in Southport on July 29.
Cleveland Police on Aug. 28 targeted 20 addresses and arrested 14 people, one of whom was an 11-year-old, according to a police statement released the next day.
However, the 11-year-old was arrested on suspicion of violent disorder in Middlesbrough, not for posting on social media, the police said in the statement and told Reuters.
“We haven’t arrested an 11-year-old for sending mean tweets,” a Cleveland Police spokesperson said via email.
The spokesperson said the 11-year-old, one of five juveniles arrested on suspicion of violent disorder by the force on Aug 28 in relation to the riots, was later bailed.
Cleveland Police arrested another 11-year-old on suspicion of arson after a police vehicle was set alight in Hartlepool on July 31, according to the spokesperson and an Aug 1 statement,. The child was also released on bail, the spokesperson said.
Three men, including one, in Wales, were jailed in early August for riot-related social media posts judged to have encouraged violent disorder in the wake of the Southport murders.
