Starmer condemns Zack Polanski for sharing post criticising police at Golders Green stabbings | Zack Polanski
Keir Starmer has condemned Zack Polanski as “disgraceful” and unfit to lead a political party after the Greens leader shared a social media post criticizing police’s handling of the suspect in the Golders Green stabbings.
The Prime Minister said any criticism of the police involved in the arrest was unfair as officers had to make split-second decisions at a time of potentially serious danger.
Police were filmed taking the suspect into custody after two Jews were stabbed in a north-west London suburb on Wednesday. Footage of the arrest shared on social media shows two officers kicking the man at or near his head.
Polanski retweeted, without comment, a post claiming that X “repeatedly and violently kicked a mentally ill man in the head” while already incapacitated by a stun gun.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Starmer said that police who saw the footage may believe that the suspect had explosives in his backpack.
“I don’t know what was going through the cops’ minds, but if I had been there I would have thought: ‘He’s going to blow something up. He’s going to blow me up and everyone else in here.’ And under the circumstances, I think you can understand very well why it was going through their minds: ‘We’ve got to do everything we can to neutralize this guy,'” Starmer said.
He added: “You have to make a decision based on your understanding of the situation at that moment. And it’s a shame when politicians come in, like Zack Polanski did. He’s unfit to lead any political party.”
Polanski apologized yesterday, saying he shared the post “in haste”.
Starmer’s intervention came after Metropolitan police commissioner Mark Rowley wrote a letter to Polanski describing the allegation as “inaccurate and ill-informed commentary”. He praised officers as “outstanding” and added: “I dread to think what the outcome might have been had it not been for their efforts to stop him.”
Rowley later told the BBC that his letter was not “interference in politics”, adding: “I’m only interested in operational policing and defending my officers because I want them to have the confidence to protect Londoners.”
“Cops need confidence when confronting these dangerous people, and if a respected person recklessly steps into this situation and undermines it, then I will deal with it.”
In other interviews Friday, Rowley said his forces would need more resources to protect Jewish communities and that he was concerned about the possible scale of two protest marches planned in London in May.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said: “If a loved one of Zack Polanski had been stabbed, I don’t think he would be worried about how the police disarmed that person.”
In a statement released Friday afternoon, Polanski apologized for the post, saying: “Everyone in leadership has a responsibility to lower the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologize for posting a hasty tweet.
‘Police responses to emergencies such as these need to be considered later in the correct forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel to do this. I have invited Mark Rowley to meet me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter.’
He also said in a separate social media post that a group of protesters gave him a Nazi salute during a campaign visit to Hastings in East Sussex. He added: “Today the prime minister is using his office to attack the only Jewish party leader who is scoring political points.”
The row came as Stephen Parkinson, director of prosecutions for England and Wales, vowed to deal decisively with all hate crimes, warning of a “deeply disturbing increase in antisemitic incidents across the country”.
In a statement on Friday, Parkinson said he recognized the “deep fear, distress and anger” felt by Jewish people, adding: “Antisemic hate crime is not just an attack on individuals, it is an attack on the values of respect, tolerance and the rule of law that underpin our society.”
“Let me be clear: those who commit anti-Semitic crimes will be held accountable. The Crown Prosecution Service will use the full force of the law to ensure that those responsible are brought to a sound and speedy trial and that justice is served.”
Essa Suleiman, 45, appeared in court on Friday charged with attempting to murder three people during the incident in London’s Golders Green on Wednesday and two alleged stabbings during a personal dispute in south London.
