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A prominent left wing activist has had her Twitter account suspended.

The Rachael_Swindon account, which is run by 43-year-old mum from Swindon Rachael Cousins, is prolific - tweeting around 40 times a day with more than 60,000 followers.

It has a large number of high profile supporters - including singer Lily Allen.

But the account had been criticised for some of its more vitriolic comments and previous remarks about the Rothschild family, a widely-recognised anti-Semitic trope.

The account was replaced today with the message: "This account has been suspended."

Twitter would not say why, but said "our Abusive Behaviour Policy prohibits behaviour which intimidates, harasses or tries to silence another user’s voice".

As soon as followers found out about the suspension, supporters quickly rallied around the account using the hashtag #freetheswindon1 to call for its reinstatement.

(Image: Twitter)

Steven Tuck tweeted: "It's appalling that twitter have taken steps to silence the left.

"By suspending Rachael_Swindon your taking a swipe at free speech and helping to silencing the voice of the voiceless."

(Image: Twitter)

Another asked: Could @TwitterSupport explain why social justice activist @Rachael_Swindon 's a/c has been suspended?

"I have never seen her share anything that could be considered unfairly derogatory or in any way aggressive or inciteful. This is worrying to all who speak out. #FreeTheSwindon1

A Twitter spokesperson said: "We don't comment on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons.

"As outlined in the Twitter Rules , our Abusive Behaviour Policy prohibits behaviour which intimidates, harasses or tries to silence another user’s voice."

Rachael Cousins uses a fan art picture of Disney's Rapunzel as an avatar instead of her own image.

Last September Ms Cousins gave an interview to Buzzfeed in which she denied claims that her husband John is the main person tweeting from the account.

She said at the time: “I am a woman who has got a voice. They are trying to take that away from me.”

Ms Cousins first entered the political fray online with her angry response to David Cameron's government voting through disability benefit cuts.

(Image: Twitter)

“Some Tory MPs feel picked on for being shamed for stealing £30 a week from cancer sufferers,” she wrote under her Twitter pseudonym @Rachael_Swindon. “So here’s ALL of them.”

She attached an image listing all of the Tory MPs who voted for the cut.

Later, she told BuzzFeed: "I thought, I've got to do something, I've got to shout about it".

Meanwhile, a widely-circulated screenshot of her account dated to 2016 showed her tweeting "Israel Grants Oil Rights in Syria to Rupert Murdoch & Rothschild: Does it all make sense yet?"

A screenshot of the tweet, and another about rail privatisation, earned her heavy criticism on the social network.

She later wrote last month: "I mentioned the Rothschild family in relation to rail privatisation a couple of years back.

"At the time I had no idea that references to Rothschilds had links to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

"Now that I do, I wouldn't reference them again, nor should you. Sorry for any offence."