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Conspiracy theorist David Icke has slammed the authorities in Leicester for blocking an appearance.

The Athena has pulled out of hosting one of his talks, following discussions with Leicester City Council and Leicestershire Police.

The Leicester-born former footballer and broadcaster was set to talk at an event in April.

According to Mr Icke, the decision to cancel was made after staff from the council and the force “scared the s**t” out of the hosts.

Following a subsequent meeting with the council and police, Mr Icke posted a 17-minute-long YouTube video voicing his anger.

He said: “What happened in that meeting is not only extraordinary, it is deeply disturbing, and should concern every person in this country, never mind Leicester alone.

“Now in Leicester we’re having people from the police counter terrorism unit and the council counter extremism unit intervening in my freedom of speech.”

(Image: Anna Gowthorpe/PA Wire)

He added that he is having a film made about his life and said that Leicester and the Athena event would have featured positively, were it not for this situation.

“Now it [Leicester] is going to appear in the movie as a classic example in one story in this city of how far we are going down the road of an Orwellian society,” said Mr Icke.

The 65-year-old blames “ultra-Zionist hate groups” for opposing his speeches and trying to prevent him from talking publicly.

Zionism is a movement led by Jewish people which supports the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland in the historic land of Israel.

He also took a swipe at the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, a group which has previously taken a stance against him, along with others who have accused him of being anti-Semitic.

A spokesman for the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism said: "Campaign Against Antisemitism thanks the management at the Athena in Leicester for taking a principled stand and cancelling the booking for Mr Icke's show on Friday, April 20.

“We contacted the venue in August and alerted them that Mr Icke uses his stage performances to repeat centuries-old libels as well as conspiracy myths and tropes about Jews.

"Mr Icke claims that many prominent Jews are in fact not human at all and are conspiring to cheat all of humanity."

In his 17-minute YouTube video Mr Icke claims all his beliefs are based on love and breaking down barriers between people forged by religions or races.

David Icke's best known claims In an interview with Terry Wogan he said he was the son of God, claiming he was 'gobsmacked' when he found out.

He argues that the human race has been 'genetically manipulated' by alien reptiles.

He says there are three classes of people: Red dresses, sheeple and those that see through the illusion.

Icke says the rings of Saturn were created by a reptile spacecraft

A Leicestershire Police spokesman said: “Leicestershire Police and Leicester City Council were made aware of an event due to be held by David Icke and that a number of letters and emails from concerned members of the public had already been received by the venue in Leicester.



“Representatives from both organisations met with the venue's owners to discuss these public concerns and to ensure the owners of the premises were aware of their obligations under licensing legislation.



“The venue subsequently decided to cancel the event.”

Leicester City Council provided a similar statement.

A spokesperson for the authority said: “Leicester City Council and Leicestershire Police have a shared obligation to promote good community cohesion and work with licensed premises to reduce the likelihood of crime and disorder.

“We met with the venue to discuss this, and the venue decided to cancel the event.”

Staff at The Athena were contacted by the Leicester Mercury but said they would not making any comment at this time.