Rochdale MP Simon Danczuck and Ramadan Foundation formally complained to the Greater Manchester Police over Sun columnist and celebrity Twitter Katie Hopkins.
The reality TV star has been accused by the Labour MP of sending tweets suggesting Pakistani men in the Lancashire town were child abusers. In 2012, nine men from Rochdale who ran a child exploitation ring – eight of whom were of Pakistani origin – were jailed for offences including rape and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child.
Mr Danczuk, who represents Rochdale, has sent a letter to the police commissioner of Greater Manchester Police, Tony Lloyd, asking him to investigate whether a crime had been committed by Hopkins.
Hopkins is said to have started sending the tweets after Mr Danczuk attended the raising of a Pakistani flag over the town hall for half an hour on 23 March to mark National Pakistan Day.
She wrote: “Raising a Pakistani flag in Rochdale is not helping community cohesion. it is inflammatory. @SimonDanczuk you & your party disgust me.”
Hopkins posted a series of messages to her account after the MP tweeted a picture of himself at the event.
In response, she sent a picture of eight men convicted of child exploitation offences, asking Mr Danczuk: “Are these your friends too ?@SimonDanczuk? Is this why you are raising the Pakistani flag in Rochdale? 77 years inside.”
Explaining his decision to make the complaint, the MP said it was about Hopkins “inciting racial hatred”.
He said: “The letter is me asking the police commissioner to investigate whether a crime has been committed in relation to Katie Hopkins.
“It is not right that somebody who has little to do with Rochdale incited hatred of this kind.
“Rochdale is a very cohesive community – people work well together. Of course there are tensions, like there are in other communities, but people rub together really well and we don’t need outsiders like Katie Hopkins to come in and cause trouble just for the sake of causing trouble and creating Sun headlines.”
The flying of the Pakistani flag at Rochdale Town Hall recently was to recognise a fellow commonwealth nation and Rochdalians who happen to have been born in Pakistan or links with the country for their positive contributions to Rochdale. The inflammatory comments from Katie Hopkins are an insult to the hard working and loyal British Pakistanis who have nothing but contempt for child groomers however are disgusted that Katie Hopkins tarnishes the land of our ancestors so easily.
Pakistan is a member of the Commonwealth; soldiers from Pakistan have fought in World War One and Two against Nazism and fascism, both nations have long lasting friendship and partnership working on tacking terrorism. There are Pakistani war graves around the world where those that fought have been laid to rest with the lifelong commitment never to forget their sacrifices. Katie won’t tell you about those brave Pakistanis because it doesn’t suit her bigoted agenda.
The idea you can equate all Pakistanis or the Pakistan national flag as responsible for child sexual exploitation is deeply insulting and inflammatory. The Ramadhan Foundation and I were the first to speak out against Pakistani grooming gangs in 2007 and I have been clear some of these criminals deliberately target white girls, which is a form of racism and has to be confronted. As the father of one of the victims of the Rochdale grooming gang has said, Katie Hopkins has used his daughter for her own bigoted agenda, which is condemnable.
Simon Danczuk has been totally right on exposing child sexual abuse not just those Pakistani groomers but also abuse carried out by white men and covered up. He is totally consistent and we thank him for his work.
Katie Hopkins real face was exposed again this weekend, when she made a holocaust joke directed at Justine Miliband whose husband’s family suffered in the gas chambers during the slaughter of the Jewish community. This along with the bigotry towards Pakistanis show the true face of Katie Hopkins and I hope she is brought to task for that bigotry.”