Britain First leader whom Trump re-tweeted arrested again in Belfast

By Ian Graham

BELFAST (Reuters) - A leader of a British far-right group, whose anti-Islamic posts were retweeted by U.S. President Donald Trump causing outrage in Britain, was arrested in Northern Ireland on Thursday minutes after being bailed over a separate incident.

Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of the fringe anti-immigrant Britain First group, appeared at a court in Belfast to face charges of using threatening, abusive or insulting words in a speech at a rally in the city in August.

She was remanded on continuing bail until January 9 on condition that she does not go within 500 metres of any rally or demonstration before the case is finished.

As she left court, Fransen, 31, was then arrested and charged with breaking the same law in a separate incident on Wednesday near one of the "peace walls" that separate Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods, police said.

Police declined to give any further details of the incident.

Britain First's leader Paul Golding, 35, was also arrested as he accompanied Fransen to the courthouse and later charged in connection with the August incident.

Trump's sharing of Fransen's anti-Muslim videos, posted on Twitter, provoked outrage in Britain last month, drawing a sharp rebuke from Prime Minister Theresa May and straining relations between two close allies.

An attempt by police to restrict Fransen's use of social media - Twitter and Facebook - was rejected by the judge on Thursday.

Fransen was fined last month after being found guilty by a court in England of religiously aggravated harassment for shouting abuse at a Muslim woman wearing a hijab.

Her lawyer told Belfast Magistrates Court on Thursday she would be pleading not guilty to the charges she faces in relation to the August rally.

Golding is a former senior figure in the far-right British National Party and founded Britain First in 2011.

The group describes itself as a "patriotic political party and street movement". Critics denounce it as a racist organisation.

(Editing by Padraic Halpin, Andrew Roche and Richard Balmforth)