[B-Man.]

Three teenagers have appeared in court over the alleged burning of a Remembrance Day poppy.

Two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old were charged with incitement to hatred when they appeared before magistrates in Coleraine, Northern Ireland.

The youngest of the trio was also charged with improper use of the public electronic communications network.

The three were arrested by members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) after a photograph showing two teenagers burning a poppy was posted on a social networking site.

"Individuals should be mindful of the content of any material they upload onto social media networks," he added.

The photograph sparked outrage on the internet and saw insults and threats exchanged.

Insults were exchanged and threats of violence hurled as the two boys came online and defended their actions.

Dervock Royal British Legion member, Steven Phillips, was shown the “abhorrent” photo by his son and immediately telephoned police.

He said the two boys were “sticking two fingers up to the whole of society” by their actions, which he said constituted a hate crime.

He said the whole community had been “up in arms” at the photograph, and praised the police for their quick action in making the arrests after a complaint was made.

“I hope they throw the book at them because this is abhorrent,” he said.

“There’s people from this province that lay down their lives, so I think they deserve a bit of respect,” he said.

Source

[PendulumBoB]

That's awful; now if only all poppy burners could recieve the same treatment not just white Irish Catholics (or whatever these guys are).

[the bear]

they should be sent to Long Kesh to share a cell with some UVF members

[Lewis :D]

Northern Ireland is a complex situation though, and the news story is from a week ago. Don't think they should've burnt the poppies nevertheless.

[Aj12]

Mhh still don't think they should be arrested

[pinda.college]

***** ****ing hate them!!!

Rest in peace our fallen soldiers x

[I<3LAMP]

Look how proud they are in their lil photo.

[Wahrheit]

Ridiculous that the government gets involved in stuff like this... Seriously, burning a poppy requires a court case now does it? They aren't causing anybody harm, they are just some teenagers going through a 'rebellious' stage, best thing to do is not draw attention to it because that just makes it worse...

[voldejoe]

Just pure disrespect of an item that honours those who have fought for our country's independence and freedom.

It shouldn't be a legal case though, it's just plain rudeness.

[Goody2Shoes-x]

You can have a difference in opinion without offending everyone - this is pure insult, and should be punished.

[FluxD]

This happened weeks ago.

Silly teenage bogwogs don't realize that their own countrymen fought and died for the British Army. I should know, my granddad was Irish and served in the Yorkshire Rifles.

[Kolya]

If the goal is a greater level of respect for victims of war, then we should look at better educating and informing young people. Arresting people doesn't help, and rather demeans the notion of 'respect'.

[SophiaKeuning]

(Original post by Aj12)
Mhh still don't think they should be arrested

Yeah, I agree. We can't just arrest everythig we disgree with.

[Insanity514]

Arrested? That's outrageous.

[iamthedon]

How can you get arrested for this? It's sickening

[Iron Mike]

(Original post by FluxD)
Silly teenage bogwogs don't realize that their own countrymen fought and died for the British Army. I should know, my granddad was Irish and served in the Yorkshire Rifles.

What makes you think that they don't realise it? It's far more likely that they are aware of it, considering it's common knowledge, but they simply don't care.

[Algorithm69]

A country that arrests people for something as trivial as this does not deserve to be called a free country. Ridiculous.

[edd360]

Well regardless of the burners intentions, I still think it's extremely childish and unprodcutvie to get worked up about someone burning some paper in the shape of a flower.

[RTAN451]

I'm pretty sure they did get arrested, which annoyed me because last year when Muslims didn't they walked off free, possibly because if they hot arrested there'd probably be a bomb in a few days time.

Before I get accused of stereotyping or something for saying that, I'd like to point out the Southpark indecent where after mocking a part of Islam a car bomb went off outside the studios. Doing a good job of fulfilling the stereotype, in my opinion.

[ArtGoblin]

It's ridiculous that people can be arrested for this. We shouldn't be forced to 'respect' the war dead ; people have such a strange attitude to war veterans and current soldiers. I will respect someone if I feel they deserve it, otherwise it's not respect, it's just social pressure. I think poppy burning is a horrible thing to do because they know it will upset people, but it shouldn't be against the law! The social condemnation is punishment enough - we don't need the police to get involved.