“Two men, one in his 70s and one in his 30s, were treated at the scene for stab wounds and taken to hospital.
A 45-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and remains in custody. He has a history of serious violence and mental health issues and the investigation is ongoing…
Antisemitism is fuelled by hateful and extremist ideologies. It comes from hostile states, the extreme right, and the extreme left. These are terrorist and hateful belief systems but they are all rooted in racism. They are given space to operate when civic debate is weak, when hatred is excused, and when people are unwilling to challenge it directly.
I also believe now is the time to ask some difficult questions. Why are we not seeing more condemnation of these attacks we have seen in recent weeks? Where are the voices against hate? Where is the solidarity…”
https://news.met.police.uk/news/update-statement-from-the-commissioner-on-barnet-incident-508821#:~:text=Statement%20from%20Sir%20Mark%20Rowley,this%20incident%20a%20terrorist%20attack.
https://archive.ph/uGxF5
Rowley uses a stabbing incident involving a man with a "history of serious violence and mental health issues" to pivot into a lecture on "extremist ideologies" and "hostile states". He is effectively using a criminal act to smear millions of peaceful protesters as a "terrorist belief system".
Rowley told Good Morning Britain that he was “really troubled” by claims that protest organisers intended to march near synagogues.
“I’m really troubled by what we have seen. Many of these marches set out with an intent to march near synagogues, and every single time we have put conditions on to prevent that,” said Rowley.
“Even that intent causes me concern that they repeatedly ask to do such things.”…
But leading figures from the Palestine Solidarity movement pushed back on these claims, describing the commissioner’s comments as “dishonest and frankly dangerous”.
Ryvka Bernard, deputy director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said Rowley’s intervention risked heightening tensions.
“It’s shocking that Rowley would make such dishonest and reckless comments in a moment when his police force should be focused on protecting vulnerable people,” she said.
“We have repeatedly rejected any conflation of Jewish people with the horrific actions and policies of the state of Israel,” said Bernard. “This dangerous misinformation … will only serve to create more fear and anxiety.”
‘None of our marches or proposed march routes has ever targeted a synagogue’
- Ryvka Bernard, Palestine Solidarity Campaign
“Our marches for Palestine are about showing solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle against apartheid and genocide, and to protest against British government complicity in Israel’s crimes against them,” said Bernard.
“Our upcoming march on 16 May will be no different.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley today met the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the London Jewish Forum and the Community Security Trust to discuss the security situation facing Jewish communities following a spate of arson attacks in the capital.
The meeting, convened by the Board of Deputies, focused on how the Metropolitan Police is responding to what appears to be a coordinated series of attacks, as well as the measures being put in place to protect the Jewish community going forward.
The meeting also addressed the police’s handling of public order incidents, and the new police powers coming in through the Crime and Policing Bill.
Participants emphasised the importance of clear communication with the community and visible reassurance measures during this period of heightened concern and expressed gratitude for the unprecedented level of engagement of the Met with the Jewish community, and particularly the CST.
https://bod.org.uk/bod-news/following-spate-of-attacks-met-commissioner-meets-jewish-representatives-on-enhancing-community-security/
“The six organisations coordinating the national Palestine demonstrations are concerned that despite numerous requests we have been refused a meeting with Sir Mark Rowley the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. This is despite the fact that Rowley regularly meets with lobby groups who support Israel’s pro-genocide policies and are deeply hostile to our protests and our cause.
We have organised one of the biggest cycle of mass demonstrations in British history in which millions of people have participated.
As the police themselves have often said, they have been overwhelmingly peaceful. There are more arrests per person at Premier league football matches and the average Glastonbury festival than on our demonstrations.
Yet we have faced the most severe restrictions ever experienced on mass marches. This has included numerous bans and attempted bans, including most recently from the BBC, thousands of police mobilised from across the country, the arrest of numerous people for wearing tee-shirts or holding placards and police communications regularly implying that we are a threat to public order.
In particular the police are acting on the false presumption that the protests are a threat to the Jewish community. This is despite the fact there are thousands of Jewish people on our demonstrations and that the police themselves have failed to come up with a single instance of a Jewish person being threatened by anyone on our marches.”
https://www.stopwar.org.uk/article/met-commissioner-refuses-to-meet-palestine-coalition/
BBC executives met nine times with pro-Israel Jewish groups and just once with pro-Palestinians in 14 months of genocide, Freedom of Information shows
https://www.declassifieduk.org/strong-pro-israel-bias-among-bbc-bosses-new-data-indicates/#:~:text=BBC%20executives%20met%20nine%20times,central%20London%20(Photo%3A%20Alamy)
“A landmark 240-page report of evidence was delivered to the Met’s War Crimes Team in April last year by a team of legal experts on behalf of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and the Public Interest Law Centre, which are representing Palestinians in Gaza and the UK.
After repeated attempts to follow up, Novara Media can now reveal that the Met will not be opening an investigation, despite more than 70 legal and human rights experts signing a letter of support urging the police to take action in accordance with international law…
Top human rights barrister Michael Mansfield KC – who was part of the legal delegation that initially delivered the dossier – called the Met’s decision “shocking” and “a license for people, essentially, to get away with murder”.
“It’s utterly disgraceful that they should take a whole year to decide not to even open an investigation,” Mansfield told Novara Media “That means that they had, in fact, decided from the beginning that they weren’t going to bother. The Met is unfit for purpose. I think it’s a complete insult to the rule of law, and to anybody who wants to try and get to the truth of what’s been happening.”
arresting protesters for "wearing t-shirts" or holding placards.
arresting protesters for "wearing t-shirts" or holding placards.
A pensioner and his dog were arrested by the Met Police in London for protesting against the ban on Palestine Action.
https://www.facebook.com/MiddleEastEye/videos/a-pensioner-and-his-dog-were-arrested-by-the-met-police-in-london-for-protesting/1184359750190065/