The Metropolitan Police has been criticised after an officer told demonstrators to stop waving Israel’s flag in Trafalgar Square. Footage shared on social media shows the policeman being challenged after telling a group to take the flag off a wall at the site in central London.
It comes after Israeli and Palestine flags have been flown freely by protesters in the same square during previous gatherings.
Asked why, the cop replies: “You’re not meant to be here and it’s a protected heritage site so you need a licence to be here to do what you’re doing. You didn’t have one in the first place. We’ve been nice enough to let you be here.”
The person behind the camera who took the video, credited to pro-Israel group Campaign4Truth, then accuses the officer of “getting jittery” after he said someone had shouted out “free Palestine”.
He says: “I’m disgusted. You don’t ask the Palestinians to take theirs down so why would you ask a Jewish man to do it?”
The officer denies the claim, replying that he has asked for such flags to be removed, to which the person off camera replies, “Bull”.
The man goes on to claim: “On Saturday there were thousands of Palestinian flags here. You got jittery over one Star of David, yeah. Two-tier policing, innit.”
He adds: “This is a heritage site he said, right? And that’s why you’re not allowed the flag up there. Did that stop the Palestinians from climbing up there Saturday and waving all their flags?”
Organisation, Eye on Antisemitism, shared the footage on social media on Monday (December 11) with some social media users blasting the force.
One X-user raged: “Absolutely sick of these double standards”. Another urged the force to police impartially, adding: “Come on Met Police, you know the tones of the public for and against the Hamas/Israeli war – they should be dealt with equally, to at least keep the tension minimised”.
The Met Police has been approached for comment.
Pro-Israel protesters gathered in Trafalgar Square on Monday beneath a large menorah lit up for the Jewish festival of lights, Hannukah. There were chants of “bring them home now” in the square, which has been the focal point of several demonstrations since Hamas gunmen crossed from Gaza into southern Israel, slaughtering 1,200 Israelis.
Meanwhile, Israel and the United States face increasing calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, including in a non-binding vote expected to pass at the United Nations later today. Tel Aviv is pressing ahead with its offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers which it says could go on for weeks or months.
More than 18,000 Palestinians have been killed according to the Hamas run health ministry, with over 80 percent of the Gaza Strip’s population of 2.3 million having fled their homes.
Much of northern Gaza has been obliterated and hundreds of thousands have fled to ever-shrinking “safe zones” in the south.
The health care system and humanitarian aid operations have collapsed in large parts of Gaza and aid workers have warned of starvation as well as the spread of disease among displaced people in overcrowded shelters and tent camps.
Strikes overnight and into Tuesday in southern Gaza — in an area where civilians have been told to seek shelter — killed at least 23 people, according to the Associated Press.
