Must not joke about burkas in Britain



Not a bad joke, actually

A Conservative councillor has been kicked out of the party after a picture comparing burkas to binbags was posted on his Facebook page.

Chris Joannides has been expelled for a year following an investigation over the image which showed a woman and child in traditional Muslim dress standing between two black rubbish sacks.

A caption underneath the photograph said: ‘I saw her standing there and I told her she had three beautiful children. She didn’t have to get all p***ed off and threaten me. It was an honest mistake!’

The councillor, who did not compose the words on the caption, said it was posted on his page by a friend but he admitted having ‘shared’ it in what he described as ‘blokeish banter’. He said he then deleted it from his page.

Mr Joannides was initially suspended by the Enfield Conservative Group in North London last year when complaints emerged over the picture.  Both the police and his local party investigated the matter but decided to take no action.

But Conservative Central Office took a harsher view of his social networking behaviour.

A spokesman said: ‘Chris Joannides is not endorsed as a candidate in the forthcoming local government elections. No appeal is permitted under party rules. Furthermore, Mr Joannides is expelled from the party for a period of 12 months.  ‘He may appeal against this decision and it is our understanding he intends to do so.’

Mr Joannides, who is of Greek-Cypriot origin and represents the Grange Ward in Enfield, has courted controversy before.

Source

Greek-Cypriots tend to loathe Muslims because of the Turkish occupation of the Northern part of their island