# Source note — UK Montgomery Toms / Freedom Watch public-order banner incident

Prepared: 2026-07-28

## Social lead
- Facebook share URL: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EfpPB3ozd/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Resolved Reel: https://www.facebook.com/reel/903301339348984/
- Uploader: Montgomery Toms
- Metadata title/description: says Montgomery Toms was under police investigation, searched, banners seized and team threatened with arrest after Freedom Watch GB held public conversations outside Liverpool University and Manchester.
- Duration: about 101 seconds.

## Captured transcript summary
The clip shows/discusses police citing Public Order Act section 5 and seizing banners/signs after people said they felt offended by wording on signs. Visible/claimed banners include “transgender = mental illness / prove me wrong” and “Britain needs mass deportation.” The speaker frames this as police shutting down free speech.

## Verification status
- Verified from the video capture: police interaction, search/seizure language, banner wording, and Public Order Act section 5 being referenced in conversation.
- Verified from UK legal sources: Public Order Act 1986 section 5 covers threatening or abusive words/behaviour or threatening/abusive written signs/displays within sight/hearing of someone likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress. CPS guidance says section 5 no longer covers words or displays that are simply “insulting.”
- Verified from Article 10 guidance: freedom of expression protects public protest and expression, but may be restricted in certain circumstances.
- Not independently verified in this pass: police incident number, formal charge/outcome, returned/seized-property paperwork, or a police press statement.

## Evidence label
Social-video incident + legal context verified; formal case/outcome not independently confirmed.

## Guardrail
Frame as a UK free-speech/public-order source card. Do not state that police “illegally” seized property or that an offence was/was not committed; say the video claims it and the legal threshold needs official outcome or paperwork.