Met Police ‘tear down posters of Hamas hostages’ in bid to cut back tensions
Met Police officers have been pictured scraping posters of Israeli hostages snatched by Hamas gunmen from a shopfront in London.
The picture taken exterior a store believed to be in Edgware sparked outrage after it appeared on social media on Sunday (October 29). A spokesperson for the Met Police stated the removing of the posters was to cut back tensions within the space.
In the photograph, the police will be seen peeling away a number of kidnapped posters, which have appeared throughout the UK in response to Hamas militants taking 239 hostages from Israel into Gaza in the course of the group’s shock assault on October 7.
One X-user, in response to the picture, tweeted on Sunday: “Instead of arresting the mob chanting antisemitic slogans today the @metpoliceuk are removing hostage posters from a place in Edgware. WTF is going on in this country”.
The tweet adopted a march in central London on Saturday (October 28) by supporters of Palestine demanding a ceasefire within the newest Israel-Hamas battle.
Some chanted “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, regardless of controversy over the slogan’s which means. More than 1,000 Met Police officers had been on responsibility on the march, which noticed at the very least 9 confirmed arrests.
The look of the Edgware picture comes after the Jewish group was instructed the Israeli army was “troubled” by the rise in antisemitism in Britain since Hamas’s assault. Removal of comparable posters has sparked outrage in latest weeks amid heightened tensions between some Palestinian and Israeli supporters.
UK-based Jewish charity, Community Security Trust (CST), stated it had recorded about 800 incidents of antisemitism since October 7, when Palestinian militants killed about 1,400 folks on Israeli soil.
A second X-user tweeted the picture, commenting: “Things are bad enough without needing to see @metpoliceuk joining in to tear down posters of our kidnapped family.”
Fellow X-users expressed outrage on the picture, with one responding: “This is outrageous. These officers should be relieved from duty immediately.”
A Met Police spokesman instructed Express.co.uk: “We recognise why people are concerned about this photo and want an explanation.”
The spokesman stated the posters had been put up late on Saturday night time and the Met acquired at the very least two calls from native residents who believed the posters had been placed on the shopfront’s shutters in retaliation for feedback in regards to the battle between Israel and Hamas made on social media by an individual linked to the enterprise.
The spokesman added it appeared that print outs of these feedback might also have been put up subsequent to the posters.
He stated: “Both people who reported the posters to us were concerned it would escalate an already tense situation. Officers went to the shop and acting in good faith they removed the posters in an effort to prevent any such escalation.
“The removing of those posters elsewhere in London has induced anger and upset in latest weeks. We know a photograph of our officers doing the identical will trigger additional concern, notably for anybody not conscious of the total info reported to us on the time.
“We have no wish to limit the rights of anyone to protest or to raise awareness of the plight of those kidnapped and the terrible impact on their families. But we do have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to stop issues escalating and to avoid any further increase in community tension. On this occasion, that is what officers were trying to do.”
The spokesman stated the pressure is involved with native companions, group leaders and people immediately concerned, including: “We are also assessing the content of the comments made on social media to identify any potential offences.”