Police take no action over Zack Polanski’s Nigel Farage guillotine Instagram post | Politics | News
Police will not take further action regarding the slogan “We’re just planning for Nigel”, which Green Party leader Zack Polanski posted on Instagram, featuring a photo of a man wearing a T-shirt with a guillotine on it and the slogan “We’re only planning for Nigel”.
The Metropolitan Police received a third-party report regarding an image shared on Instagram on Monday (July 27). There were other reports of the same image showing a man wearing a T-shirt with an image of a guillotine and accompanying text.
The agency’s review concluded that sharing the image online was unlikely to constitute a criminal offence. The police also said that “the person mentioned in the reports received publicly stated, directly or in statements made on his own behalf, that he had not seen the specific image in question when accepting the invitation to cooperate.”
The post appears to have since been shared (collaborating, reposting or sharing) by approximately 130 accounts. The Metropolitan Police said: “We should not treat individuals differently simply because of their public profile and so any investigation needs to take into account the actions of more than 130 individuals and organizations, not just the individual named in the reports.
“Given that his actions were unlikely to ultimately amount to a criminal offence, it was accepted that such an extensive investigation was disproportionate and not a reasonable use of police resources.” The police stated that “no action will be taken regarding the sharing of the image on the internet”, adding that “but they decided that a criminal record should be made regarding wearing the t-shirt”.
Police also said: “The incident occurred in Bristol and as a result we have handed over the crime report to Avon and Somerset Police. They will consider what action should be taken next.”
A Met Police spokesman said: “We absolutely understand the reaction to this image being shared online, particularly in the context of increasing threats against politicians.
“We take the safety and security of people in public life, including politicians, very seriously. When we detect threats, we take appropriate action and investigate where evidence of crime is found.
“While there are people who would argue that those who shared the image in this Instagram post should be subject to criminal prosecution, our review concluded that the threshold was not met in this case. We spoke to those affected to explain this decision-making process and provide reassurance about our ongoing commitment to their safety and the additional support available.”
The Green Party leader said he made an “inadvertent mistake” over an image on social media but said he would not apologize to Nigel Farage.
The picture in question was 18he In a post with 20 images. A spokesman for Mr. Polanski previously said: “After attending a public event, Zack accepted a request to collaborate on a post featuring various images. When this image was brought to his attention, he immediately unshared the post. He absolutely does not support such dangerous messages.”
