A British government official has threatened to arrest anyone, anywhere in the world, if they violate his interpretation of what speech is allowed in the public – or not.

And he’s getting a vicious scolding from Americans who have reminded him that there was a revolution, and he’s not in charge.

But a constitutional expert, Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University and a popular commentator on constitutional issues who has testified before Congress on its impact, is warning that a Democrat administration in the United States actually could collude with such extremists.

The dispute is over the recent comment from a police commissioner in the United Kingdom, Mark Rowley, who issued the threat.

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“We will throw the full force of the law at people. And whether you’re in this country committing crimes on the streets or committing crimes from further afield, we will come after you.”

He envisions even extraditing people from other nations to face his courtroom antics on issues such as what has happened in the U.K.

Turley explained, “The decline of free speech in the United Kingdom has long been a concern for free speech advocates. A man was convicted for sending a tweet while drunk referring to dead soldiers. Another was arrested for an anti-police t-shirt. Another was arrested for calling the Irish boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend a ‘leprechaun.’ Yet another was arrested for singing ‘Kung Fu Fighting.’ A teenager was arrested for protesting outside of a Scientology center with a sign calling the religion a ‘cult.'”

Turley reported the issue surfaced because, “London has been hit with days of violent protests over immigration policies, including attacks and arson directed at immigration centers. This violence has been fueled by false reports spread online about the person responsible for an attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event that left three girls dead and others wounded. Despite false claims about his being an asylum seeker, the culprit was an 18-year-old British citizen born to Rwandan parents.”

Now police there are “moving to arrest those who are repeating false claims or engaging in inflammatory speech,” he reported.

Rowley expanded his comment: “Being a keyboard warrior does not make you safe from the law. You can be guilty of offenses of incitement, of stirring up racial hatred, there are numerous terrorist offenses regarding the publishing of material. All of those offenses are in play if people are provoking hatred and violence on the streets, and we will come after those individuals just as we will physically confront on the streets the thugs and the yobs who are taking — who are causing the problems for communities.”

Turley noted, “The message is chilling because free speech has been in a free fall in the United Kingdom as well as other Western countries.”

He noted the U.K. has adopted many laws criminalizing speech, using vague terms that allow for police to arrest anyone they want. All the behavior has to be is considered by police to be “threatening, abusive, or insulting.”

He pointed out, “Ordinarily, one would expect the U.S. government to push back on the suggestion that these laws could be used to arrest and extradite its citizens for the use of free speech. However, the Biden-Harris administration has been a proponent of censorship and blacklisting for years. At the same time, leading Democrats have called for European-type laws to be adopted or enforced against U.S. citizens for their views on social media.”

He noted that in the past, “Democratic leaders like Hillary Clinton called on foreign countries to use or pass censorship laws to prevent Elon Musk from restoring free speech protections on Twitter. The effort of these politicians would allow free speech to be reduced to the lowest common denominator as countries export their anti-free speech laws. When Clinton called upon Europeans to censor Americans, this is precisely what such actions would look like. These foreign countries could force Americans to curtail their speech under the threat of ruinous financial penalties or even arrest.”

A report at BizPacReview pointed out the insults actually being hurled at Rowley over his agenda.

Unleashed were many comments, many of them using harsh language, to scold Rowley.

“He’s not going to do a f****** thing about other people expressing themselves freely in other countries, especially Americans,” said one, describing Rowley and his agenda as “the rest of the racists.”

Another pointed out that “you British f***s lost the war!! We AmeriCANS speak freely!! We are sovereign!! We are FREE!!”

Yet another scolded, “Thanks to our revolution, we have free speech, and remember we started that revolution over a tax on tea…”

Another offered a lesson in American government, specifically the 2nd Amendment, if Rowley would “try to do something to us…”

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Bob Unruh

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after nearly three decades with the Associated Press, as well as several Upper Midwest newspapers, where he covered everything from legislative battles and sports to tornadoes and homicidal survivalists. He is also a photographer whose scenic work has been used commercially. Read more of Bob Unruh's articles here.