24-05-2025
Complaints over pro-Gaza protests are petty tit-for-tat, say police
The Metropolitan Police dismissed complaints about pro-Palestinian protests glorifying the Oct 7 massacre as 'almost petty tit for tat', The Telegraph can reveal.
A British-Israeli man told an officer that an activist with a megaphone was shouting praise for Hamas, the Islamist terror organisation behind the attack, during a demonstration last September.
He captured the protester chanting 'I love the 7th of October' and 'I like any organisation that starts with H' on video.
However, the officer claimed he had not heard the offensive comments and told him to 'calm yourself down' at the rally in Swiss Cottage, north-west London.
The British-Israeli man subsequently lodged a complaint with the Met over the dismissal of his concerns.
But an official response from Scotland Yard defended the officer's actions, saying: '[The sergeant] said that these weekly protests at Swiss Cottage have become quite heated and there have been almost petty tit-for-tat allegations with absolutely no foundation from either side, in what seems to be an attempt to legitimise their own cause by attempting to get the police to do what they want, despite there being no evidence, or evidence to the contrary.'
The response added: 'This was almost bordering on making a false report and wasting police time, however, [the sergeant] said that he believes that the response he gave was proportionate and appropriate in the circumstances.'
They said that the pro-Palestine protester had subsequently been arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred and inviting support for a proscribed organisation, though he was not charged.
The Telegraph revealed on Friday that another Jewish man at the same protest was charged with a public order offence after holding up a cartoon satirising the chief of the proscribed terror group Hezbollah.
Police forces across the country are under increasing scrutiny over their apparent failure to confront anti-Semitism, in contrast to several examples of heavy-handed responses to people expressing lawful opinions.
The British-Israeli who complained to the Met filmed a video, published by The Telegraph on Friday, in which the offensive pro-Hamas chants can be heard.
In the footage, he can be heard asking: 'Did he say I love the 7th of October?' Moments later, he tells an officer: 'He just glorified October 7th!'
He then called the demonstrators 'Hamas supporters', to which he said one responded by shouting 'Allahu Akbar' on his megaphone.
At this point, a protester's flagpole hit him on the face, triggering an outburst of expletives.
In footage published by The Telegraph, the British-Israeli man is then approached by another officer.
The man is heard telling the sergeant: 'You didn't hear what they were singing. You don't care what they are singing. They are singing about October the 7th.'
'Let's not put spin on things'
When the officer suggests he had not heard, the man says: 'I said they were glorifying October 7th, which infuriated me to call them a 'Hamas supporter'. And then what? They said 'Allahu Akbar'! They confirmed they were Hamas supporters, Sir.'
The officer then argues back, insisting: 'No, so 'Allahu Akbar' means 'God is great',' to which the man replies: 'Yes, but when you do it after the Hamas mention, it's this.'
But the officer repeats himself and adds: 'Let's not try and put a spin on things that just isn't there, okay?'
In its response to the written complaint, the Met said that the officer believed protests needed to be handled with a 'large dose of common sense' and that he believed it was important not to 'get caught up with wild accusations of wrong doing from either side that are being twisted from the facts'.
It went on to say: 'This is clearly displayed at the end where [the counter-protester] is trying to make out that saying God is great (Allahu Akbar) is some sort of offence, which it clearly isn't.'
The British-Israeli, whose close friends and relatives lost loved ones on Oct 7, said the incident had left him unsure if 'the police are able to protect' the Jewish community.
He urged Sir Keir Starmer and Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Commissioner, to 'start enforcing the law'.
'Events that they know they cannot police, don't allow them,' he said. 'They are afraid to say no to the other side. They're afraid to not say yes. They're really afraid to arrest anyone.'
The Met has been plagued by allegations of 'two-tier' policing since allowing pro-Palestinian demonstrators to march through London in the wake of Oct 7, including in areas with high Jewish populations and near synagogues.
The protests, held near the home of Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely, have become weekly events since the Hamas attack on Israel.
A Met spokesman said: 'The man who was filmed making the comments in Swiss Cottage on Sept 20 was arrested the following day.
'It would obviously have been preferable if he had been arrested at the time, but officers who were present say they did not hear the remarks.
'A complaint was submitted in relation to the actions of those officers. It has been considered by professional standards officers and no evidence of misconduct was found.'
The spokesman added: 'Public order policing generally is challenging.
'Officers are not expected to be experts in the nuances of every issue at every protest they are deployed to. They could be policing a protest on the conflict between Israel and Hamas one day and a protest on tensions in Kashmir the next.
'They are expected to do their best in challenging circumstances, not taking sides and ensuring that groups with opposing views can both protest peacefully, often in close proximity to each other.
'They won't get every decision right nor will they spot every offence as it happens. That would be an unrealistic expectation. There may be times when they need to prioritise the avoidance of disorder, over words being said by those involved.
'We are not solely reliant on officers' immediate actions. We have a dedicated public order crime team who can take investigations forward, just as they did in this case, even if they come to light after events have concluded.'
