Police question woman who wore ‘concentration camp prisoner' outfit at protest
Images of the protester, whose identity the police have not disclosed, circulated on social media, showing the woman dressed in striped clothes, hat and face mask.
Yellow symbols depicting the crescent moon and star of Islam were sewn on to the shirt and hat, and the protester held a sign with the hashtag 'We Are All Palestine Action'.
The Met Police said in a post on X that the woman was questioned on Friday.
'Images were shared this week showing a woman at protests wearing clothing imitating that worn by those held in concentration camps during the Holocaust,' they said.
UPDATE: Images were shared this week showing a woman at protests wearing clothing imitating that worn by those held in concentration camps during the Holocaust.
This afternoon she was interviewed under caution at a central London police station.
Our investigation continues.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) June 27, 2025
'This afternoon she was interviewed under caution at a central London police station.
'Our investigation continues.'
Alex Hearn, co-director of Labour Against Antisemitism (LAAS), described the outfit as 'a blatant act of antisemitism' and criticised Met Police officers who oversaw the demonstration for failing to take immediate action.
'This was a blatant act of antisemitism that has caused distress and upset to many people in the Jewish community in Britain,' Mr Hearn said.
'The Holocaust is not a costume.
'We are glad that the police are now taking action but the question remains why police officers at this protest and outside Parliament did not act on the spot.'
Mr Hearn added: 'Time and again these so-called protesters display racist hatred and contempt for Jews in front of police officers, but it is only when the Jewish community publicly calls this out and demands action that the police engage.'
The Metropolitan Police have declined to answer further questions.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Monday that she has decided to proscribe Palestine Action and will lay an order before Parliament next week which, if passed, will make membership and support for the protest group illegal.
Belonging to or expressing support for a proscribed organisation, along with a number of other actions, are criminal offences carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The decision comes after the group posted footage online showing two people inside the base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
The clip shows one person riding an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker and appearing to spray paint into its jet engine.
On Monday, a march took place in support of Palestine Action in central London, during which clashes between the police and some protesters led to 13 arrests for alleged offences including assaulting an emergency worker, obstructing a constable and breaching Public Order Act conditions, the Metropolitan Police previously said.
Palestine Action has staged a series of demonstrations in recent months, including spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint over its alleged links to Israeli defence company Elbit, and vandalising US President Donald Trump's Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire, Scotland.
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Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Performances by Bob Vylan and Kneecap branded ‘hateful' and ‘grotesque'
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South Wales Guardian
2 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Police examining Glastonbury performances labelled ‘hateful' and ‘grotesque'
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But when speech crosses into incitement, hatred, and advocacy of ethnic cleansing, it must be called out—especially when amplified by public figures on prominent platforms. 'Chants such as 'Death to the IDF,' and 'From the river to the sea' are slogans that advocate for the dismantling of the State of Israel and implicitly call for the elimination of Jewish self-determination. When such messages are delivered before tens of thousands of festivalgoers and met with applause, it raises serious concerns about the normalisation of extremist language and the glorification of violence. 'We call on Glastonbury Festival organisers, artists, and public leaders in the UK to denounce this rhetoric and reject of all forms of hatred.' This is grotesque. Glorifying violence against Jews isn't edgy. The West is playing with fire if we allow this sort of behaviour to go unchecked. The cultural establishment needs to wake up to the fact this isn't protest, it's incitement. (1/2) — Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) June 28, 2025 Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called the scenes 'grotesque', writing on X: 'Glorifying violence against Jews isn't edgy. The West is playing with fire if we allow this sort of behaviour to go unchecked. 'The cultural establishment needs to wake up to the fact this isn't protest, it's incitement. 'Less than 2 years ago, hundreds were raped and murdered at a music festival. It's not just the act but the gormless people clapping along and cheering. People with no idea what real terror is. 'They don't understand the evil ideology they're amplifying – and they don't care.' A BBC spokesperson said: 'Some of the comments made during Bob Vylan's set were deeply offensive. During this live stream on iPlayer, which reflected what was happening on stage, a warning was issued on screen about the very strong and discriminatory language. We have no plans to make the performance available on demand.' 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Scotsman
2 hours ago
- Scotsman
The 'nothing' politicians who measure progress in 'likes' and victories in reposts
MPs like Maguire and Sultana are 'dopamine-chasers' who favour virtue-signalling provocation over reasoned persuasion Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... I think it highly unlikely there currently exists a politician who hasn't been subjected to online abuse. In days long since passed, it took effort to write a threatening letter to an MP. Now, one may fire off an endless stream of slurs and threats with ease. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Unsurprisingly, because a lot of men really hate women, the vitriol directed towards female members of parliament is especially threatening and degrading. For Women Scotland campaigners outside the Supreme Court in London after its ruling that, in law, sex is a matter of biology rather than feelings. Picture: Lucy North/PA Wire On occasion, police have acted (the case, in 2021, of Grant Karte, an SNP member who pleaded guilty to sending messages that were 'grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character' to then nationalist MP Joanna Cherry, springs to mind) but the problem continues and it grows worse. Politicians, of course, are not the only popular targets for online hate: Jews should expect to be denounced as baby-killers by righteous 'anti-Zionists'; feminists fighting to preserve the integrity of women's single-sex spaces have long since grown accustomed to accusations of transphobia, often accompanied by rape and/or death threats. With all of the above in mind, the behaviour of Liberal Democrat MP Ben Maguire is disturbing. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad During a Westminster debate last week the member for North Cornwall mocked JK Rowling's involvement in the campaign to defend women's rights against the demands of trans activists. The moment was bleakly entertaining, like a scene from a watch-through-your-fingers comedy. Maguire told fellow MPs Rowling was 'desperate for attention and relevance'. The pathos was almost unbearable. I cringed for the man. Had the Lib Dems' shadow attorney general – yes, really – left things at that, then we could comfortably have continued to ignore him. His words confirm him to be a default-setting sexist. In response to Maguire's pitiful bid for attention and relevance, Rowling evoked the words of the late Labour MP Denis Healey who once said debating Conservative Geoffrey Howe was like being savaged by a dead sheep. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad I fear the pain of Rowling's barb may have lingered for in the early hours of the following morning, Maguire was still smarting about those feminists and their demands. Following another positively masochistic engagement with Rowling, Maguire turned his ire on the feminist campaign group For Women Scotland. At 12.57 am on Wednesday, the MP responded on X to a post by the group – which brought the recent case that saw the Supreme Court rule, in law, sex is a matter of biology rather than feelings – claiming it had a 'fascist agenda'. Hours later, Maguire closed his X account. A non-apology followed. The MP said he regretted the comment which had been made in 'the heat of the moment'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'This whole debate,' added Maguire, 'has become quite toxic, so I felt it best to step away from X for a while.' Suggesting the problem was the tone of debate rather than his behaviour, Maguire was riffing on that old classic 'look what you made me do'. I struggle, even when squinting, to detect any difference between Maguire's behaviour and the behaviour of the sort of trolls who revel in making the lives of MPs as miserable as possible. At 12.57 am, Maguire was just another loser lashing out at women who dared to talk back. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Is it the place of an elected politician to make wildly defamatory claims about an organisation that's only crime is to have forced governments across the UK to meet their responsibilities when it comes to the protection of women's rights? Obviously not. Nor, if we wish to be cynical about this, is it at all wise for a politician who wishes to appeal to the all important reality-aligning demographic to attack an organisation whose objectives are supported by a clear majority of voters. A YouGov poll in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's April ruling found that 63 per cent thought it correct while just 18 per cent reckoned the wrong decision had been made. In Maguire, I see the archetype of the dopamine-hit politician. These caricatures of the radical, who see posting something provocative online as an act of leadership, who eschew such basics of politics as diplomacy, intellectual curiosity, and a grasp of the law, while chasing ultimately worthless plaudits from ideologues and social media users, enjoying their own dopamine-hits, with every like and re-post. The contemporary pseudo-iconoclast politician thrives both on the adoration of those who support their positions and the anger they provoke among those they don't. Driven by the need for another roar of approval from the cool kids, they state all-or-nothing positions that betray their failure to engage in the issues they proclaim to care about. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Ben Maguire does nothing for the case he wishes to advance by smearing his opponents. Rather, he helps reinforce the position of the majority which believes him to be on the wrong side of the argument over the impact on women's rights of the demands of trans activists. Labour MP Zarah Sultana is another dopamine-chaser who favours virtue-signalling provocation over reasoned persuasion. When it was announced, last week, that the group Palestine Action faced proscription as a terror group after members broke into RAF Brize Norton, Sultana posted on X the message: 'We are all Palestine Action'. A statement which was as provably wrong as it was needlessly offensive. Intentional damage to any part of the UK's defence hardware goes far beyond the principle of freedom of expression and into the serious realm of national security. Members of Palestine Action understood this when they broke into Brize Norton. That was the point. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Like Maguire, Sultana measures political progress in 'likes', sees victories in reposts, and gains validation from outrage. She cannot imagine the existence of someone who might feel sympathy for, even rage on behalf of, Palestinians while simultaneously believing the UK's national security is important.
