A Jewish campaigner who was threatened with being arrested by the police for being near a pro-Palestine march has accused the Met of allowing “no-go zones for Jews”. The Mail has the story.
Gideon Falter, the Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, was pulled aside by an officer who said he was “breaching the peace” because he was “quite openly Jewish”.
Video of the confrontation, which was shared online, has sparked a furious response after an officer told Mr. Falter his presence as he tried to walk around London after going to a synagogue on Saturday was “antagonising a large group of people”.
He has now accused the Metropolitan Police failing to address “the threat of antisemitic violence” and has called for a mass demonstration by Jewish and non-Jewish people to show “no part of London should be unsafe”.
The Met has apologised to Mr. Falter and said the use of the phrase “openly Jewish” by the office was “hugely regrettable” and insisted officers were intervening not to stifle free speech, but to “keep the public, including all those taking part or opposing the protest, safe”.
In a video shared by CAA from Saturday’s march, Mr. Falter – who was wearing a kippah on his head – was seen telling the officer: “I don’t want to stay here, I want to leave.”
The officer then replies: “In that case sir, when the crowd is gone I will happily escort you out.”
After the defiant man attempts to walk across the road in the Aldwych area, the officer blocks him and says: “I don’t want anybody antagonising anybody… and at the moment sir, you are quite openly Jewish. This is a pro-Palestinian march.
“I am not accusing you of anything but I am worried about the reaction to your presence.”
Later on in the video, another officer says: “There’s a unit of people here now. You will be escorted out of this area so you can go about your business, go where you want freely or if you choose to remain here because you are causing a breach of peace, with all these other people, you will be arrested.”
He clarifies: “Your presence here is antagonising a large group of people that we can’t deal with all of them if they attack you… because your presence is antagonising them.”
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