Mock KKK lynching in front of motorcycle club’s crest

Police have arrested a man over pictures of a mock Ku Klux Klan lynching in front of  a motorcycle club’s crest.

The photographs were taken at a neo-Nazi music gig after a so-called ‘white pride’ march by members of the far-right National Front in Swansea on March 9.

They show people in hooded Ku Klux Klan robes hanging a golliwog while a crowd of about 70 give Nazi salutes.  

The crest of the Valley Commandos Motorcycle Club can be clearly seen on the walls of the venue in several photos. The Valley Commandos have a clubhouse in Abercynon, Mid Glamorgan. 

Flags of the neo-Nazi music promotion network Blood and Honour, organisers of the gig, appear either side of the Valley Commandos’ crest.

Simon Cressy of the anti-fascist campaign Hope not Hate said: “There was a previous Blood and Honour concert in London which also appeared linked to a motorcycle club. It makes me think they have close links with certain motorcycle clubs.”

Police have arrested a man in the West Midlands on suspicion of inciting racial hatred after the images were posted online.

The unnamed man told the Sunday Mercury: “It was all in jest and I don’t regret a minute of it and would do the same again.

“The mistake I made was to put a video of the ‘lynching’ up on YouTube.”

He added: “I admire the Klan and its Christian values and believe in racial segregation.”

Cressy said: “Hope not Hate opposes all racial hatred.

“To mock the lynching of a black man on stage for entertainment is a disgusting act. We would call for the police to take a strong view on this.”

West Midlands Police said: ‘A 23-year-old man from Willenhall, West Midlands, was arrested on March 26 on suspicion of inciting racial hatred, under Section 21 of the Public Order Act 1986. This relates to material posted on the Internet, which is suspected to be of an extreme right wing nature.

‘The man has been bailed pending further enquiries by officers from the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit.’

South Wales Police said the concert itself was not under investigation because it did not occur in a public place.