Westboro Baptist Church leaders Fred Phelps and Shirley Phelps-Roper had planned a trip to the UK to picket a production of The Laramie Project set to take place on Friday in Basingstoke, Hampshire. But they aren't being allowed into the country:
"The pair will now be stopped by immigration officials if they arrive and placed straight on a flight back to the US. The ban comes after Dutch MP Geert Wilders was barred from the UK last week for his extremist views on Islam. A UK Border Agency spokesman said: 'The Home Secretary has excluded both Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper from the UK. Both these individuals have engaged in unacceptable behaviour by inciting hatred against a number of communities. The Government has made it clear it opposes extremism in all its forms. We will continue to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country. That was the driving force behind the tighter rules on exclusion for unacceptable behaviour that the Home Secretary announced on 28th October last year. The exclusions policy is targeted at all those who seek to stir up tension and provoke others to violence regardless of their origins and beliefs."
The church has other upcoming hateful pickets to attend to however. They plan to picket a memorial service for the pilot of Continental Flight 3407 in Buffalo, New York, as well as the Academy Awards.
