A Jewish lawyer was questioned by police after wearing a Star of David necklace which officers claimed 'antagonised' pro-Palestine supporters during a demonstration.
He claims to have been acting as an independent spectator, watching the protest for illegal behaviour by participants and to observe how police responded to challenges on the ground.
Mission accomplished, chum!
In a statement, police said the man was not arrested for wearing the necklace, but that he had allegedly 'continuously approached the area' allocated to the pro-Palestinian protestors on the evening, which in turn provoked a reaction.
And the fact that the Pally supporters response to the presence of a Jewish man near them was to 'react' bothered them not a jot, of course...
The man's defence labelled the officer's statements as 'ignorant' and said he had a 'great deal of concern' with the line of questioning.
As do we all...
The detective said he did not want to offend by asking the question, adding that it was not a question about the man wearing the Star of David generally but in a 'very niche environment where tensions are high'. He then said that he did not want 'this to become a political debate in an interview'.
This is the calibre of man being appointed as a detective in the Mey Police?
They rely on the old 'public order' bollocks, of course.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman told the Daily Mail: 'The man told officers he was acting as a legal observer, but his actions are alleged to have gone beyond observing to provoking and as such, actively participating as a protester.
'Over the course of an hour, the man is alleged to have continuously approached the area allocated to IJAN, getting very close to protesters to film them and in doing so provoking a reaction.
'Officers had to intervene on at least four occasions to ask the man to return to the Stop the Hate area as required by the conditions.
'When he failed to do so after multiple warnings, he was arrested. He was subsequently released on bail and the investigation continues.'
The investigation into what, exactly? Whether he's a habitual jewelley wearer?
4 comments:
The investigation into whether he was deliberately trying to provoke violence.
-- Spiro Ozer
What???? A violent reaction from adherents of the Religion of Peace????
Pronounced Jew-ellery I guess.
Some ambivalence about this one. While the police certainly don’t come out of it well, the man’s requested anonymity makes it impossible to know whether he is in fact a qualified lawyer or whether a journalist somewhere along the line has misunderstood the term legal observer (ie trained volunteer with no official legal status and not necessarily from a legal background) - it wouldn’t be the first time. In addition, there is a long history of disruption involving self-appointed ‘legal observers’ at demonstrations.
The Star of David is effectively a red herring; photos show that, rather then if the photos are anything to go by, rather than a professionally produced and mounted piece of jewellery, it was a twisted wire construction with a utilitarian chain (rather like a sink plug one) threaded through one of the points. While some people do wear wire Stars (in memory of the makeshift ones made by concentration camp prisoners), these are usually rather better made and not, as a rule, purchased while on holiday in Ibiza, as this one apparently was.
Even if the police asked about it - inappropriate but possibly understandable given its unconventional appearance and the fact it must have been worn outside the customary hi-vis jacket of a legal observer - its importance is secondary to the problem presented by a nominally objective observer repeatedly failing to keep an appropriate distance away from one of the groups involved.
The lengthy news coverage devoted to the Star of David issue suggests a heavy-handed attempt to steer the narrative, although it’s hard to see how it contributes anything to an already fraught situation beyond further muddying the waters around current policing policy.
Post a Comment