People arrested for 'racist or anti-religious' actions/statements

Generally, it's not a good precedent to set. The last thing religious extremists need is to see that someone can legitimately get locked up for saying something that is offensive and not dangerous. People shouldn't get into trouble for having xenophobic or racist views, as long as those views don't otherwise harm anyone.

On the other hand, there seems to have been death threats and incitations to violence particularly from the EDL. I think most can agree that these types of people must be taken seriously.

I must say, it is worrisome every time I hear these things (arrests for offensive views) happening in "Western" countries. Obviously there are different incidents with different circumstances, but the global trend seems to be moving more towards suppressing free speech rather than expanding/protecting it. I'm used to hearing about these things in the places more notorious for it, but what do you guys think is the trend in terms of the way freedom of speech/expression is being treated in the more developed/democratic countries?