How Tommy Robinson gave away he was hiding at luxury Cyprus hotel while stoking UK riots
Gym selfies on the right-wing agitator’s social media may have helped trace him to a £400-a-night resort
“My kids are crying,” wrote Tommy Robinson from a luxury five-star holiday resort after photographs emerged revealing he had been hiding out in Cyprus.
“We come (sic) here so I could spend some quality time with them. Now they are scared people are coming here to get them.”
The anti-Islam activist has been accused of stoking far-right riots across the UK from outside the country while holed up in the £400-a-night Mediterranean hotel.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is thought to have left Britain last week ahead of a scheduled hearing in a contempt of court case. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
The English Defence League founder claimed his family feared they were in danger after the location where he was hiding was revealed on Sunday.
But despite his protestations, it appears Robinson’s own social media activity may have provided clues to his whereabouts.
Promotional photographs of the resort appear to show a waterslide and gym seen in the background of posts he shared with his followers last week.
The decor of hotel room where he filmed an interview with far-right US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones also appears to match the shots.
Follow live coverage of UK riots here
During the conversation with Jones, Robinson asked viewers for donations and complained his location had been made public.
Asked what happens now, he replied: “I’ll be in jail, Alex, that’s what comes next.
“I think it will be the worst thing they can do. It will galvanise our support the people aren’t backing down.
“If people can’t see that. They’ve tried to crush [disorder] but the protests have got bigger and more violent.”
He said he expects the number of people hitting the streets to double in size in the coming days adding: “There’s a revolution brewing in the United Kingdom. I’ve made video after video asking it to be peaceful, not violent.
“We are losing our country, we are losing our culture, we are losing our identity.”
Robinson has been publishing running commentary and videos documenting the riots, describing the disorder as a result of “legitimate concerns” and calling for “mass deportations”.
Campaigners have accused him of playing an important role in inciting violence directed at ethnic minority groups in the UK over the past week in the wake of the Southport stabbings, which left three young children dead.
Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, 17, who was born in Cardiff, is accused carrying out the attack, but false claims spread online that the suspect was an asylum seeker of Muslim faith who had arrived in the UK by small boat in 2023.
Several of the demonstrations have targeted mosques. Hotels housing asylum seekers in Tamworth and Rotherham were also subject to violent disorder on Sunday.
Sabby Dhalu, co-convenor of Stand up to Racism told The Independent: “Tommy Robinson is deliberately stoking up racism and Islamophobia, whilst on the run. It’s no accident that the riots took place days after Robinson mobilised 15,000 in Trafalgar Square last week. Fascists are emboldened.”