POLICE have recorded a tweet issued by an Almondsbury councillor as a "hate incident".
In a tweet that has since been deleted, Cllr Philip Winter wrote: “We had same organised Communism by darkies former Empire at Oxford! Cecil Rhodes statue is still their [sic]!! I would deport buggers."
UKIP Cllr Winter, who sits on Almondsbury Parish Council, tweeted the slur in a response to American Ivy league university Yale, who had announced that they are renaming their Calhoun residential colleges in order to disassociate themselves with John C Calhoun - a recognised white supremacist and defender of slavery.
It has since been reported that Cllr Winter claims his twitter account was hacked.
A spokeswoman for South Gloucestershire Council said that the incident has been passed onto the police.
An Avon and Somerset police spokesman said: “We can confirm that a complaint was made regarding this matter to Gloucestershire Police who’ve passed it to us.
“This has been recorded as a hate incident and our enquiries continue.”
Complaints made to the council concerning the incident will also be dealt with by its standards sub-committee.
Chairman of Almondsbury Parish Council, Cllr Phil Hall, yesterday expressed his horror at the remark.
He said: "We are all disgusted - he is certainly not writing on behalf of the council and his comments do not represent the opinion of the people of Almondsbury.
"I unfortunately don't have the authority to ban him."
Cllr Winter has also been suspended from UKIP, who released a statement saying that he will face an investigation and disciplinary hearing.
Twitter users were quick to criticise the councillor, who has been under fire for his comments on social media before.
Lesley Morgan called Cllr Winter's tweet "shameful", and tagged a photo of the tweet in question:
UKIP Councillor Philip Winter referring to "darkies". Shameful pic.twitter.com/GxLZka0m3h
— Lesley Morgan (@LesleyMorgan4) February 12, 2017
@MomentumOX took the opportunity to criticise his spelling in the tweet, as he had used the word "their" instead of "there":
Here's UKIP Councillor Philip Winter..
— Momentum Oxford (@MomentumOx) February 13, 2017
For someone obsessed with being English
It's a shame he doesn't seem to speak it 🙊#Oxfordshire #UKIP https://t.co/wiDElbtcCv
Meanwhile, @grhydian joked that the tweet was clear evidence that the twitter account was a parody:
Am now convinced that Councillor Philip Winter is a parody troll par excellence. That, or the kid you knew in school who ate the glue. https://t.co/ytHTivsJVt
— G Rhydian (@grhydian) February 13, 2017
The Gazette have contacted Mr Winter for comment.
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