Piers Corbyn arrested over leaflets comparing vaccine programme to Auschwitz

Piers Corbyn, the climate change sceptic and brother of the former Labour leader, has been arrested by police investigating leaflets likening Covid-19 vaccination efforts to the concentration camp at Auschwitz.

The activist, 73, was arrested in Southwark on Wednesday on suspicion of malicious communications and public nuisance.

Another man, 37, was arrested in Bow on suspicion of a public order offence, Scotland Yard said. Both men have been bailed to return on a date in early March.

The Metropolitan police said the leaflet contained material that appeared to compare the Covid-19 vaccination programme with the Holocaust.

Earlier this week the leaflets were described by a London council as an attempt to play on the fears of some residents, particularly people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds who are among those most at risk from Covid-19.

They feature a sketch of the entrance to Auschwitz in which the gates’ infamous slogan “Arbeit macht frei” (Work sets you free) has been changed to read: “Vaccines are safe path to freedom.”

Inside, there are baseless claims such as the conspiracy theory that some vaccines contain nanochip technology which will enable recipients to be electronically tracked. They bear the name of Corbyn, a weather forecaster, and that of his website, where the leaflets appear in digital form.

​The ​Evening Standard reported​ earlier this week​ that ​Piers Corbyn had confirmed he had been involved with designing the leaflets.

He said: “A group of us came up with the idea. The Evening Standard was saying that vaccines will set us all free and it is not true.” Asked by the newspaper if the leaflets broke the law, he added: “Of course not.”

Corbyn was found guilty in December of breaching emergency health regulations at an anti-lockdown protest in London’s Hyde Park. Last summer, he became one of the first people to receive a £10,000 fixed penalty under new coronavirus laws restricting public gatherings of more than 30 people.