Image Credit: James Harvey | Vox Populi 
British journalist and activist James Harvey was arrested for saying “stop the boats,” sending a chilling message to young people resisting the legal alien invasion.
“You’ve seen what’s happened to the UK, China, and North Korea. America is next,” Harvey told Border Hawk.
On a crisp July morning in 2025, James Harvey, a 22-year-old activist from Hethersett, stood outside his girlfriend’s Norwich home, unaware that Norfolk Constabulary was about to derail his biggest demonstration yet. At 8:06 a.m., officers arrested him, citing a protest five days earlier at the Park Hotel in Diss where he allegedly violated Section 31 of the Crime and Disorder Act by allegedly chanting “deport,” “send them home,” and “filthy foreigners.”
The charges carry a potential two-year sentence if escalated to Crown Court. A separate affray charge looms, with a decision pending October 6. Harvey’s arrest, alongside that of 23-year-old Luke Sharman, signals a nightmarish clampdown on dissent in the UK, where words are now shackles.
Harvey, founder of Students Against Tyranny, joined a community rally in Diss on July 21, believing the Park Hotel housed only male migrants, based on an Eastern Daily Press article. Unbeknownst to him, women and children were present.
His chants, captured on video, were later weaponized by police. After a 14-hour detention at Wymondham Police Station, where officers seized his phone and external hard drive—along with his girlfriend Syd’s laptops and drives—Harvey faced interrogation.
Represented by Fishers Solicitors, he gave a “no comment” response, save for a brief statement crafted with his legal team. At 10:15 p.m., he was released on bail, charged with a racially aggravated public order offense, and ordered to appear at Norwich Magistrate’s Court on September 16.
Sharman, arrested on the same day, faced similar scrutiny. His alleged crime? A comment at the Diss protest: “They are all paedos and rapists. They all come from the same; they are the same.”
Sharman insists his words were misconstrued, referring to migrants arriving by boat, not race.
Held for 15 hours, he was charged under Section 31 for racially aggravated disorderly behavior and released on bail with strict conditions: no entry to Diss and a 200-meter buffer from properties housing illegal migrants. Like Harvey, he faces court on September 16, pleading not guilty, with an affray investigation ongoing until October.
Reviewing protest footage from both sides, Norfolk Constabulary zeroed in on Harvey and Sharman.
Posts on X reveal public outrage, framing the arrests as a direct assault on free speech. One user called it a “crackdown akin to any tyrannical regime,” while another lamented, “The law is not fair, and speech is not free.”
Harvey’s supporters argue he was targeted to silence his activism. His girlfriend, posting as @JournoJones05, noted the timing—hours before his largest planned demonstration in Bowthorpe—suggesting police aimed to disrupt his efforts. They failed to seize his PA system but confiscated critical tech, hampering his work.
Meanwhile, Sharman struggles to grasp how his words were deemed racially aggravating, insisting context was ignored. Both men, bailed until their hearings, face an uncertain future as the state flexes its muscle against dissent.
On the back of PM Keir Starmer promising President Trump free speech in the UK, this case raises stark questions about open expression in Britain.
Harvey and Sharman’s chants, however provocative, were rooted in a broader conflict over immigration policy—a debate increasingly stifled by legal overreach.
The Crime and Disorder Act, designed to curb harassment, now appears serve as a blunt tool to mute voices.
As Harvey prepares to fight his charges, his supporters vow to amplify his cause. In a nation where “stop the boats” can land you in cuffs, the line between protest and persecution grows thin.
Harvey is raising £25,000 to avoid a potential prison sentence of two years or more. To support him, go to FreeJamesHarvey.com
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