Parish council leader resigns over anti-racism vigil slurry threats

Mr Gunn said he "had no problem with black lives matter" but objected to a banner being flown over the church wall

A parish council leader who threatened to splatter an anti-racism vigil with slurry has resigned.

Residents in Orston, Nottinghamshire, had organised the event to "stand in solidarity against racism".

But Will Gunn said he would take to his tractor and stage a dirty counter-protest outside the village church.

The former parish council chairman defended his comments as "tongue-in-cheek", but left his role over the "politically incorrect" remarks.

'Cancel Christmas' threat

Commenting underneath a post advertising the vigil, Mr Gunn wrote: "I will be there with a tractor and slurry tanker.

"Anyone taking part in this will be covered in more [excrement] than you talk."

He further vowed to cancel festive events if the peaceful demonstration inspired by Black Lives Matter protests went ahead, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"I tell you now, if anyone attends this there will be no village bonfire, soap box race, phone box, Christmas tree and pageant or any other one-offs that make Orston what it is," he wrote.

• Latest news and stories from the East Midlands

This was not the first time Mr Gunn had made controversial comments online.

In April, he wrote: "One positive thing to come out of this is that the rainbow, which is a beautiful and quite common sight in our world, is being used to symbolise something good and important instead of the LGBT."

In another occasion, also in April, he described the BBC as a "negative, socialist, pro-gay national disgrace" that "won't be happy" until it has undermined the country.

'No racism in village'

When contacted, he said he had "no problem" with Black Lives Matter, but he objected to a banner being on the church wall.

"The core purpose of BLM is a great one," he added. "But the side that destroys our country's monuments and war memorials is a disgrace.

"You can't just pick the good bits out of action groups and pretend the bad bits aren't happening."

Responding to his comments about the rainbow flag he said he also "did not have a problem with LGBT".

"In our community there has never ever been a racist or homophobic problem and I hope there never will, so I don't see the point of jumping up and down about it," he said.