Councillors have slammed ‘malicious’ and ‘false’ videos being shared in Blackburn as the general election campaign in the town gets grubby.

In a video, being circulated on WhatsApp, two unrelated incidents are blamed on ‘Labour thugs’ and 'Labour terror gangs'.

It claims Labour wanted to 'punish Independents' after the local election results, which saw it lose several seats to the 4 BwD group of Gaza rebels.

One Labour councillor condemned the video as "gutter politics" and said Labour's incumbent Kate Hollern is running a positive campaign.

The video also accuses Labour councillors in the town of being Zionists and supporting genocide, goes on to make unrelated comments about mosques and imams.

Pictures of the Labour councillors feature in the video as well as footage of two street fights in the town which have no connection to Labour.

One clip shows an incident where two men, one with nunchucks and another with a stick, were fighting in a street in Audley. 

Police, at the time of that incident, said a 35-year-old was arrested and it was an isolated incident between two men who knew each other.

A second clip of a night-time brawl between two groups of young men in Whalley New Road in Bastwell is featured, and falsely blamed on the Labour supporters.

Police said at the time by the time they had arrived the group had dispersed. 

Labour’s Bastwell and Daisyfield Councillor Shaukat Hussain said: “It is wrong to share and produce such malicious videos which have no truth in them.

“These are incidents that have happened during the past few months and people are taking the opportunity to tarnish the local Labour Party in any way they can.

“Whoever is producing these knows the truth and it does not look good.

“People need to be aware of the harmful nature of the videos before they share them.

“The Labour Party is running a positive campaign and won’t allow itself to get involved with gutter politics.”

Labour has been at the brunt of numerous videos and graphics which have made disparaging remarks about individual councillors and supporters.

Rana Gulistan Khan is the newly elected 4 BwD Independent councillor for Bastwell and Daisyfield.

He said: “This needs condemnation and has no justification.

“I believe people are attempting to take advantage of the situation and sharing this type of content.

“Whatever anyone’s political views, people should be tolerant of someone else views.

“We have been the victims of similar threats recently. Myself and fellow councillors have received threatening phone calls with people swearing in Punjabi. I have also had physical threats to myself and my property. I have reported that to the police.”

One local activist said: “It is just getting out of hand. People are sharing made-up information now and nobody is being brave enough to call it out for what it is – nasty’.

Last week, Independent candidate Adnan Hussain and Labour’s  Kate Hollern spoke out after a graphic was shared which accused Blackburn mosque members were individually named and accused of being ‘supporters of genocide’.