A man has been arrested on suspicion of “encouraging murder” after a video of a councillor appeared online calling for the throats of anti-immigration protesters to be cut.

The arrest comes after footage circulated on social media this morning appearing to show a Dartford councillor making inflammatory comments at a counter demonstration.

Met Police tweeted this evening: “Officers have arrested a man aged in his 50s at an address in South East London.

“He was held on suspicion of encouraging murder and for an offence under the Public Order Act. He is in custody at a south London police station.”

The comments were made during a speech yesterday (August 7) at a protest organised to stop the far-right from targeting asylum centres and the offices of lawyers helping asylum seekers.

Cllr Ricky Jones, who represents Princes Ward in Dartford, was suspended by his party earlier today.

Videos had emerged on X, formerly, Twitter, allegedly showing the councillor blasting what he claimed was the presence of razorblades, stuck on the back of stickers, between seats on trains, accompanied by National Front stickers.

In the clip the man then goes on to say of the far-right: “They are disgusting, Nazi fascists, and we need to cut all their throats and get rid of them all.”

Making a motion to his neck during the sentence, the man received cheers upon finishing his speech at the rally.

The remarks have been condemned by the Dartford Labour Party.

A statement from the group said: “We are aware of a video circulating on social media involving a member of Dartford Labour Group.

“The behaviour displayed in the video is completely unacceptable. The member has now been suspended from the Labour Party.

“Dartford Labour will be making no further comment at this time.”

After the video emerged, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage took to X claiming the man should be arrested if a two tier legal system does not exist.

Tagging in the Metropolitan Police, he said: “This man should be arrested. If not, we know there is two-tier policing.”

Two-tier policing is a criticism that has been levelled at the police by some on the right who argue that the police are significantly harsher dealing with right-wing demonstrations than with left-wing demonstrations or ones with a large ethnic minority presence.

Sir Mark Rowley, who leads the Met in London, has previously rejected accusations of two-tier policing as “complete nonsense”.

He said on Wednesday: “We have commentators from either end of the political spectrum who like to throw accusations of bias at the police because we stand in the middle, we operate independently under the law without fear or favour.”

Dartford council said it had been made aware of the suspension but was unable to comment further due to the ongoing police investigation.

Fears of disorder were contained to one Kent town last night as three people were arrested during clashes with anti-racism protesters.

Police in riot gear were stationed in Canterbury, Chatham and Dover amid concerns violent demonstrations seen nationally recently would be repeated in the county.

However, the disorder was kept to Chatham, at the town’s Innovation Centre.