The Metropolitan Police has been branded 'beyond appalling' after an officer threatened to arrest a Jewish man trying to cross the road at a pro-Palestine march because his 'presence was antagonising'.
Wow! It's true, then - there are still things that have the power to shock even this jaded blogger.
The man, who said he trying to walk around the capital after going to a synagogue, was pulled aside by a police officer who said he was 'breaching the peace' because he was 'quite openly Jewish'.
This moron must have thought this was a training video and not a comedy sketch:
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.'
Oh, if only you had some sort of power of arrest and the tools to aid you in that should anyone react unlawfully, Officer NW 377...
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.'
No doubt the weak puppet that Sunak installed in the Home Office after getting rid of his predecessors will have an excuse for not doing anything that's almost as ludicrous as the one employed by these cops.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: 'We are aware of this video and fully acknowledge the worry it has caused, not only to those featured, but also anyone who watches it, and will review the circumstances.
'We have always said that we recognise the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues to be an issue of concern for many Londoners, and this includes the regular protests and marches in central London.
'Everyone has the right to travel throughout the capital in safety.
'We will meet with anyone who wishes to organise a march or protest ahead of 27 April.'
That's it? That's your take on yet again being exposed as thick, useless and cowardly?
Speaking about the latest incident, the Jewish man said he felt sympathetic towards frontline officers who are put in 'impossible positions' every week when they are asked to police huge protests 'where there's all sorts of criminality on display'.
Well, no doubt that's very magnanimous of him, but 'all sorts of criminality' are what they are paid to deal with, aren't they? Not preventing people from crossing the road because there's a mob who might feel antagonised?
What next, they turn up and stop shoppers entering Tesco because of the amount of shoplifting going on?
H/T: AngryExile via Twitter
7 comments:
The footage seems to be selective in that the Police officer was trying to stop a Jewish man from walking past, or into, a rabble of Palestinian supporters. His words may not have been the most eloquent, but then having the vocabulary of Oscar Wilde is not normally required for Police work.
It Shirley couldn't have been that the Jewish man was trying it on?
"I was abused by a Palestinian supporting mob, and the Police did nothing."
or
"I made the Police halt a protest march so I could cross the road."
Both would make good headlines for a man who, allegedly, is on very good terms with various reporters.
Patrolling demonstrations is tiring, stressful, and dangerous, and there are always numpties who try it on.
Perhaps the copper should be given some slack.
Penseivat
Perhaps not, Penseivat, unless you think a cop telling a black reporter that he shouldn’t be walking near a Tommy Robinson demo because he’s ’obviously and visibly black’ wouldn’t be out on his ear before the video had a chance to go viral?
Julia,
Did that happen? Robinson has quite a few black friends, and racism, as far as I am aware, is not one of his soundbites. His main one is Islam, which I can understand. Unfortunately, the Islamists in the Labour party, and in central authority, deem him 'far right' because of these views (shame the 'far left' never seems to get a mention).
Regarding the original incident, I wonder if there was someone accompanying the bloke out for a wander, and who just happened to begin filming during the conversation, or was it just another, unrelated, bloke out for a stroll, with a mobile phone camera primed and ready to go?
Penseivat
"Robinson has quite a few black friends, and racism, as far as I am aware, is not one of his soundbites."
Probably not, but despite the much-trumpeted prevalence of 'right wing demagogues' I couldn't really name another one.
"Regarding the original incident, I wonder if there was someone accompanying the bloke out for a wander, and who just happened to begin filming during the conversation, or was it just another, unrelated, bloke out for a stroll, with a mobile phone camera primed and ready to go?"
If it was indeed a trap, doesn't that make it even worse, that he was dumb enough to fall into it so readily?
It is interesting to watch a longer video than those that most of the media put up - It does look rather as if Mr Falter set out to provoke a response for the camera, and I thought the policeman was remarkably patient.
https://youtu.be/Iupfxe38Wj0
This police bashing isn’t quite so straightforward when the whole video is now available
Jaded
Completely agree. Although I am sometimes pretty critical of police behaviour in these situations, the more I see of this one the more I think the policeman conducted himself very well indeed. He had to make a difficult choice under pressure and he decided rationally that allowing the Jewish guy to push through the march was risking serious disorder without good justification. What he said was perfectly polite and reasonable, it's just that the pro-Zionist lobby has chosen to portray it as anti-semitism, as they always try to do.
-- spiro
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