A man found guilty of burning poppies at a protest in west London on Armistice Day has been fined £50 under the Public Order Act.
Emdadur Choudhury, 26, of Spitalfields, had denied the charge at Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court, while Mohammed Haque, 30, of Bethnal Green, was cleared of the charge.
Both men had been accused of burning three oversized poppies on November 11 in Kensington as rival protests took place.
The demonstrations happened near the Royal Albert Hall, the end point of a charity march at which serving members handed over books of condolence ahead of Remembrance Sunday.
The court was previously told that the grandson of a World War II soldier felt “sick inside” as Muslim extremists then burned replica poppies.
Tony Kibble said: “Halfway through, I looked up to see what was going on around and I saw a ball of fire fall to the ground. Literally, my stomach turned over.
“I felt sick inside. It is something that means so much to me and to see what I believed to be a wreath of poppies fall to the ground.
Video footage of the incident was shown to the court. In it, protesters could be heard to say “the two minutes have started” before leading a series of anti-British chants.
About 20 men joined in with shouts of: “Burn, burn, British soldiers, British soldiers, burn in hell.”
The crowd continued: “British soldiers – murderers, British soldiers – rapists, British soldiers – terrorists.”
