British police said on Thursday that two men were arrested on suspicion of leaking a leaflet containing what appeared to be a comparison between the COVID-19 vaccine and the Holocaust.
The British media has named one of the two as 73-year-old Piers Corbyn, anti-vaccine activist and brother of former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The two men are accused of distributing the leaflet in south London at the end of January.
The image on the anti-coronavirus vaccine label
The leaflet included a cartoon of Auschwitz’s death camp in which more than 1.1 million Jewish prisoners were killed, with the infamous sign above his gate changed from “Arbeit Macht Frei” (work liberates you) to ” Vaccines are a safe path to freedom. “
“Totally sick of anti-vax conspiracy theory crack sheets that have been put through some doors today,” Neil Coyle, the Labor MP for Bermondsey & Old Southwark, said on Twitter on Sunday.
Hidden images and asking [police] for action against these dangerous, dangerous hooks. “
This leaflet caused widespread upheaval in the British Jewish community, with members saying that it was distributed at around the same time as the world marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January.
The Jewish Chronicle stated that Piers Corbyn was denying that he was anti-Semitic because he was married to a “Jew. ”
“The idea that we are against Semitic in any way is completely unconventional,” the paper said. “I have been working with leading Jewish scientists over the past 30 years.”
Piers corbyn
(Photo: Archive)
Britain is currently delivering a major immunization program and more than 10 million people have had their first glimpse of the COVID vaccine.
However, there have been a number of complaints in the capital from vaccine opponents with experts warning that a large minority of people believe conspiracy theories about the vaccines or the coronavirus itself.
The 73-year-old is suspected of malicious communication and public disturbance, while the other, 37-year-old, was arrested on suspicion of engaging in public order. They were released on police bail to a date in early March.