Met police chief under pressure over handling of pro-Palestine protests in UK
Footage of officer calling antisemitism campaigner ‘openly Jewish’ sparks a furore
The Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley was embroiled on Monday in a dispute over the treatment of an antisemitism campaigner as pressure mounted on the force over its handling of pro-Palestine protests.
The furore was sparked by a video clip released by the Campaign Against Antisemitism showing a police officer calling its chief executive, Gideon Falter, “openly Jewish” near a pro-Palestine protest in London on April 13. Another officer at the scene said Falter’s presence was “antagonising”.
Former home secretary Suella Braverman, seized on the footage to call for Rowley’s dismissal. Braverman has also renewed her calls for a ban on the protests, which have taken place regularly and largely peacefully since October.
Pro-Palestinian campaigners said the incident was being mis-portrayed and used to delegitimise opposition to Israel’s conduct in Gaza.
Speaking on Sky news on Monday, deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell described the incident as an “appalling episode”. “The home secretary will undoubtedly hold Sir Mark, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, to account for what happened,” he said.
He added that “strategic issues” needed to be resolved by the police over “how we ensure that Jewish people, people of any faith at all, can go about their business in London . . . and not be stopped from walking through the streets of London because of the demonstrations”.
The Met has rowed back on its initial assertion that Jewish people near the protests “must know that their presence is provocative” and were “increasing the likelihood of an altercation”.
However, Dal Babu, a former Met chief superintendent, said on Monday that the full 13-minute footage from the encounter showed officers “bending over backwards” to help Falter. Babu added that had he been at the scene, he would have arrested Falter for “breach of the peace”.
“The language the Metropolitan Police used was not acceptable but the full picture shows somebody trying to go against the march, attempting to push past police officers and being quite frankly rude and aggressive,” Babu told the BBC’s Today programme.
Ben Jamal, head of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which supports the protests, described the encounter as a stunt that was being used “to provoke a banning of marches against Israel’ s genocide”.
The International Court of Justice in January ordered Israel to comply with international law on genocide after South Africa brought a claim alleging the country was committing genocide against Palestinians in its war with Hamas. Israel has denied the allegations as “false and outrageous”.
In its latest statement, the Met said it remained “focused on doing everything possible to ensure Jewish Londoners feel safe in this city”.
It added that it had invited Jewish community leaders, police and crime officials from the London mayor’s office, and members of the House of Lords to a meeting where it would take participants through a range of protest scenarios and “invite direct community feedback to inform and challenge operational plans”.
The Met confirmed that Rowley would on Monday meet senior representatives from the Jewish community including from the London Jewish Forum and Community Security Trust.
The police chief has also been summoned to separate meetings with London mayor Sadiq Khan and policing minister Chris Philp.