Polanski apologises for sharing post criticising police
Paul SeddonPolitical reporter
PA MediaZack Polanski has apologised for sharing a social media post condemning the actions of police officers who arrested the suspect in the Golders Green attack.
The Green Party leader had reposted a message on X accusing officers of “repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head when he was already incapacitated by Taser.”
In a statement on Friday, Polanski apologised for “sharing a tweet in haste,” adding that he should not have commented on the police response via social media.
Sir Keir Starmer branded the decision to share the post “disgraceful”, in a BBC interview recorded before Polanski’s apology.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in an interview to be broadcast on Saturday, Sir Keir said he had met the officers involved in the arrest.
He added that in the circumstances, you could understand why the officers would think they “need to do whatever we can to disable this guy”.
“There’s a guy on the ground, he’s got a rucksack on. And I don’t know what was going through the mind of those officers, but if I was there, I’d be thinking, he’s going to detonate something. He’s going to blow me up and everybody around here.
“In those circumstances, I think you can quite see why what could have gone through their mind is, we need to do whatever we can to disable this guy.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley had accused the Green leader of amplifying “inaccurate and misinformed commentary”, in a letter to the politician sent out by the force on Thursday.
It is unusual for senior police leaders to publicly criticise politicians. It comes ahead of elections in Scotland, Wales and some English councils next week.
The Met has released footage from the officers’ body-worn cameras, in which they can be heard shouting repeatedly for the suspect to “get down on the ground” before he is Tasered, and then “drop the knife”.
It came after video shared on social media appeared to show the moment of the arrest, in which the officers can be seen kicking the man in the head several times in the struggle to wrest a knife from him.
Sir Mark went on to defend the officers’ actions in an interview earlier, saying their use of force had been “completely reasonable” in the circumstances.
In his statement, the Green leader said he had invited Sir Mark to “meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter”.
But he added: “Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension”.
“Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so”.
Polanski, a member of the London Assembly, which has a role in overseeing the Met, became leader of the Green Party of England and Wales last September.
Anthony Slaughter, who leads the Greens in Wales, had been among those to criticise his decision to repost the comment, telling LBC it seemed “inappropriate”.
Green Party deputy leader Rachel Millward also appeared to distance herself from the comments, praising the officers as “brave”, and adding the incident would have been “beyond terrifying”.