Tommy Robinson is suing a police force for harassment after officers “humiliated” him by asking him to leave a Cambridge pub and allegedly escorted him to the city’s railway station.
The former leader of the English Defence League, appearing under his real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, claimed he felt humiliated after Cambridgeshire Police used a dispersal order in August 2016.
He had been in the pub with his children after taking them to see Luton Town play away against Cambridge United.
Peterborough County Court was told the far-right figurehead was “targeted” due to his beliefs. Robinson claimed he found the incident “humiliating and degrading” and that his children were crying as they were followed by officers to the station.
The 36-year-old told the court: “I felt that I was just ejected from the city”, Cambridgeshire Live reported.
But an officer on duty that day said Mr Robinson was among a group of 18 Luton fans in the pub who was identified by police as “risk” supporters.
Inspector Matthew Johnson of Cambridgeshire Police said: “I was advised he was upstairs in the pub and I assumed wrongly that the children had all gone off with one of the other adults,” he said.
He continued: “This wasn’t about Mr Robinson, Mr Yaxley-Lennon, this was about the group in the pub.”
Mr Johnson said he “made a decision that the risk group had to be removed from the pub” and that included Mr Yaxley-Lennon.
He described the pub as “not the type of place you take kids after a football match”.
Alison Gurden, for Mr Yaxley-Lennon, asked Mr Johnson if he had been told that Mr Yaxley-Lennon was drinking water.
“No, I wasn’t advised he was drinking water,” he said, adding that he “knew” others in the group were drinking alcohol.
The case, listed for four days, continues.
Additional reporting by PA
