Gazan man convicted for Nazi salute at pro-Palestinian march

Mohammed Alamrein, who came to the UK a year prior to 7 October, was videoed performing the gesture in front of Jewish counter-protestors with Stop the Hate

An immigrant from Gaza has been fined £250 after he was videoed performing a Nazi salute in front of Jews, with a court rejecting his claim that the intent of the gesture had been to wave on members of the pro-Palestinian march he was participating in.

Mohammed Alamrein, who left Gaza a year prior to the war initiated by 7 October and subsequently managed to gain refugee status in the UK, took part in a “National March for Palestine” in June 2025, organised by groups including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War, Friends of Al Aqsa and Palestinian Forum in Britain. Counter-protestors from Stop the Hate had been positioned by the Met Police at one area passed by the march, and Alamrein was filmed performing the hate sign in front of them.

As described by blogger and retired Met police officer Gill Levy, when a police officer was approached by the individual who had taken the footage, the officer did not accept that this was what had happened, despite watching the footage himself. Levy described how “It took the victim’s own footage, passed to Stop the Hate, posted online, and from there circulated among officers who had somehow missed it in person, to turn a shrug into a case file. Only once the clip was public, and the Met’s handling of it was potentially public along with it, did the machinery leading to a Section 5 of the Public Order Act charge start moving.”

Levy described Alamrein as being on universal credit and, despite having been in the UK for four years, “needed an interpreter to understand the charge being read against him.” He also noted that the guideline fine for the offence in question – behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress – usually “starts well north of £800”.

The case was heard at City of London Magistrates court, with Alamrein’s attempt to claim that he had not been aware of what a Nazi salute not given credence by the adjudicating officials.