Met considering ban on pro-Palestine marches in wake of Golders Green attack - as Rowley clashes with Polanski
The Metropolitan Police are now set to review whether pro-Palestine marches can go ahead in the wake of the Golders Green attack - as the head of the force clashed with Green Party leader Zack Polanski.
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The Met said police will be assessing events across the country the wake of the stabbings and the UK terrorism threat level being raised to “severe”.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer – who is facing calls to ban pro-Palestine marches – backed the prosecution of people at such events chanting “globalise the intifada”.
The Stop the War Coalition is planning a major demonstration in London on May 16 to mark Nakba Day, commemorating the 1948 displacement of Palestinians during the creation of Israel.
The group has described attempts to link recent attacks with marches as “false”.
Asked about upcoming marches, head of Counter Terrorism Policing Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said: “As part of our review into the change in the threat level, policing will be reviewing all events across the country.”
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In a rare intervention on Thursday, Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley criticised Mr Polanski for retweeting an X post accusing officers of “repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head” when he was already incapacitated from being tasered.
Sir Mark Rowley said he was “disappointed”, adding that the post was “inaccurate and misinformed”.
“Your decision to criticise these officers, using your public profile and reach will have a chilling effect,” he added.
A Green Party spokesperson said Mr Polanski “knows it was a very difficult situation for the authorities”.
Scotland Yard has declined to comment on a Channel 4 News report that the suspect – named earlier as Essa Suleiman – left a psychiatric hospital run by South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in recent days.
He was born in Somalia and came to the UK legally as a child in the 1990s, and was reported to Prevent, the Government’s anti-extremism programme, in 2020 but the case was closed the same year.
Police tasered and arrested a 45-year-old man after the double stabbing which saw two Jewish men – Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Ben Baila, 76, named locally as Moshe Shine – taken to hospital.
He has since been discharged from hospital and is now recovering at home aftr receiving stitches, Rabbi Levi Schapiro, from the Jewish Community Council and who has visited both victims, said on social media.
Mr Shine remains in hospital and in a stable condition.
The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre raised the threat level to “severe” on Thursday, meaning a terror attack is “highly likely”.
The decision is not solely a result of the Golders Green attack, the Home Office said, adding that the threat level in the UK has been “rising for some time”.