A Labour councillor from the town of Dartford in south-east England, has been arrested and suspended for his training for encouraging murder by allegedly saying at an anti-racist demonstration that fascists should be beheaded.

Images circulating on social media and in British media show councillor Ricky Jones speaking to a crowd gathered in the London borough of Walthamstow, where he is heard encouraging the murder.

“They are disgusting Nazi fascists and we must cut their throats and get rid of them all,” the footage showed. A Labour spokesman said: “This behaviour is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

After being suspended from Labour, Jones will not be able to take his seat at Dartford Borough Council meetings. In a statement on X, London’s Metropolitan Police (Met) said last night that “officers have arrested a man in his 50s at an address in south-east London.

He was arrested on suspicion of inciting murder and an offence under the Public Order Act. He is being held at a police station in south London.”

Thousands of people gathered in the London neighborhood on Wednesday night to protest peacefully against the violent demonstrations by far-right groups that have broken out in British cities over the past week.

The wave of violence began on July 30 after the knife murder three girls at a summer camp in Southport, in the north-west of England, by Axel Rudakubana, who has just turned 18, was born in Gles to Rwandan parents, but far-right social media wrongly claimed the boy was an asylum seeker.