A no-deal Brexit approaching, and tensions rise in the Uk.
It also proved, as the englishman Edward Brinsmead-Stockham the other day landed at Gatwick airport in London.
On him he had the image of a sticker with the text 'Bollocks two Brexit' (bollocks to the Brexit).
Eddie Brinsmead-Stockham had arrived from Faro in Portugal to his native country, when he approached passport control. To The Independent, he tells, that he smiled at the policeman, but there was very little joy back.
He said, take the sticker of.
I replied 'excuse me?', and he again replied, 'It is offensive. Take the sticker of'.
Eddie Brinsmead-Stockham refused, whereupon the policeman took out his passport and placed him in a closed area.
- I asked for his name and number but he refused to give me it.
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Businessman detained to Gatwick about an anti-Brexit “Bollocks two Brexit” badge: https://t.co/gzQbSEhMS4 Eddie Brinsmead-Stockham, a businessman from Surrey, mentioned on EasyJet from Faro in Portugal, two in Gatwick. @sajidjavid @ukhomeoffice @theresa_may pic.twitter.com/iDsHLe1nGz
— BlakeNordstrom1 (@BlakeNordstrom1) 28. march 2019
Eddie Brinsmead-Stockham sat only in the closed area in about ten minutes, after which a second cop gave him his passport back and allowed him to go - though not without a warning.
He also said that 'if it were me, I would remove the sticker, so I was not physically assaulted in the airport', claims the englishman, who feel shaken after the experience.
What he did, is not in order. I will not be frightened so easily, but older than I am, or more uncertain, could be very resentful.
Eddie Brinsmead-Stockham has since reported the incident to the UK Border Force, and the authorities said to The Independent that they have received the notification and is in the process of investigating this matter.
- We take the matter very seriously, says a spokesman.
His wife has since written about the incident on Twitter, where she rages over the paskontrollens treatment of her husband.
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So, yesterday my husband landed to #gatwick was stopped & put into a holding area with his passport taken away (temporarily). Why? Because he was wearing his #bollockstobrexit badge and wouldn't remove it when the immigration officer customs him to. WTF! @PimlicoPlumbers FYI
— Adriana Brinsmead-St (@AAdrianabs) 26. march 2019
There is no doubt that the Uk's exit from the EU has rouse great emotions up in the population, while successive governments have tried to get an agreement in place.
Citizens against Brexit has demonstrated regularly since the referendum, and one of the typically used slogans is 'Bollocks two Brexit'.
The English musician Charlie Mullins has among other things paid for to get the slogan pasted on a bus and a taxi, and made large banners and produced the stickers and badges to the protesters.
Rigmanden among other things, the covered buses and taxis with the slogan. 'Bollocks two Brexit' comes from a trial in 1977, where the band Sex Pistols' manager refused to remove the words 'Never Mind the Bollocks' from their cover. Dengagn it was illegal to exhibit the 'offensive' word in public. The manager won the case, since an expert testified that 'bollocks' was a biblical word. Photo: Flickr/Tim Dennell
After the story about Eddie Brinsmead-Stockham has come out, several stood forward with similar experiences.
- I can easily believe it. I was put in a closed area and questioned last October at the Eurotunnel in Calais. I had a 'Bollocks two Brexit'-sticker in my passport, writes twitterbrugeren Angelika.
another user has also experienced having to take the stickers of:
- The same thing happened to me at Heathrow, they asked me to throw them away because of their 'offensive' nature. I took them of and put them in my shoes, writes Jaycee Aitchbee.