Post by Carl LaFong on Apr 22, 2024 16:03:50 GMT
Initial story about ‘openly Jewish’ incident not full picture, says ex-senior Met officer
An initial account of an exchange between a police officer and an antisemitism campaigner that sparked heavy criticism of Scotland Yard did not show the full picture, a former senior officer has said.
Footage released by the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) last Friday showed its chief executive, Gideon Falter, being told by a police officer that his “openly Jewish” appearance risked antagonising pro-Palestinian marchers. This precipitated claims Falter was prevented from going about his business simply because he was a Jewish man in the vicinity of a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
But a longer version of the same exchange has since emerged on Sky News, showing the officer explaining that his concern was that he had seen Falter acting in a way that led him to believe he was trying to provoke a confrontation with marchers.
That fuller account showed “a totally different encounter to the one that Mr Falter has reported”, said the former Scotland Yard chief superintendent Dal Babu on Monday.
His comments came as the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said he retained confidence in the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, but the latter needed to rebuild “confidence and trust” with the Jewish community.
While Babu said the “openly Jewish” comment was “not acceptable”, he told BBC Breakfast that the longer clip showed Falter “attempting to go against the march, trying to push past the officers, and I think for 13 minutes the officers showed great restraint”.
Babu added: “They offered to take him to a crossing point, they offered to help him and the group he was with the opportunity to cross at a more appropriate place. So the narrative that’s been pushed for the past few days is not accurate.
“Personally, if I was policing that march, I would have been inclined to have arrested [Falter] for assault on a police officer and breach of the peace.”
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/22/initial-story-about-openly-jewish-incident-not-full-picture-says-ex-senior-met-officer
An initial account of an exchange between a police officer and an antisemitism campaigner that sparked heavy criticism of Scotland Yard did not show the full picture, a former senior officer has said.
Footage released by the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) last Friday showed its chief executive, Gideon Falter, being told by a police officer that his “openly Jewish” appearance risked antagonising pro-Palestinian marchers. This precipitated claims Falter was prevented from going about his business simply because he was a Jewish man in the vicinity of a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
But a longer version of the same exchange has since emerged on Sky News, showing the officer explaining that his concern was that he had seen Falter acting in a way that led him to believe he was trying to provoke a confrontation with marchers.
That fuller account showed “a totally different encounter to the one that Mr Falter has reported”, said the former Scotland Yard chief superintendent Dal Babu on Monday.
His comments came as the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said he retained confidence in the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, but the latter needed to rebuild “confidence and trust” with the Jewish community.
While Babu said the “openly Jewish” comment was “not acceptable”, he told BBC Breakfast that the longer clip showed Falter “attempting to go against the march, trying to push past the officers, and I think for 13 minutes the officers showed great restraint”.
Babu added: “They offered to take him to a crossing point, they offered to help him and the group he was with the opportunity to cross at a more appropriate place. So the narrative that’s been pushed for the past few days is not accurate.
“Personally, if I was policing that march, I would have been inclined to have arrested [Falter] for assault on a police officer and breach of the peace.”
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/22/initial-story-about-openly-jewish-incident-not-full-picture-says-ex-senior-met-officer