Police admit briefings on terrorism need improvement
Damning video shows officers arguing that proscribed terrorist groups are just "an opinion".
The Metropolitan Police has responded defensively to a video of two of its officers telling someone in central London that support for Hezbollah was not illegal, but “your opinion”.
The video was taken on September 28 at a rally in Trafalgar Square, billed as a Vigil for Lebanon, in the wake of the assassination of the Hizbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation proscribed by the UK government.
In the video, filmed on behalf of, and distributed by, the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), a man has an encounter with two police officers, one male and one female. He tells the officers: “So, they were mourning the death of a leader of a terrorist organisation.” The officers reply that “Your opinion is your opinion”.
The man repeats his assertion that “legally it’s a terrorist organisation.” The officers say again that this is “an opinion”. The man says it is not his opinion “but the opinion of the government, it’s a literal fact”.
But the officers continue to argue with him and insist that they are not allowed to take people’s opinions into account. They then ask him to move away from the area.
The CAA.,which posted the video on Twitter/X, said: “If you have wondered why the Met’s policing of antisemitism and support for terror has been so poor, here is why.
“As we have seen at recent protests, anti-Israel demonstrators are now freely showing their support for Hezbollah, an antisemitic Iranian proxy that is proscribed as a terrorist organisation under British law.
“The video shows what happened when someone tried to inform the police that Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation.
“How is the Metropolitan Police supposed to protect us when they don’t actually educate their officers on the law?”
Responding on the same social media platform, the Met Police said: “The proscribed status of Hezbollah, Hamas and other groups is included in the briefings given to officers deployed to police-related events, but we recognise that this video shows we need to do more to make sure the details of those briefings are fully understood.”
It added: “Contrary to what was said in the video, this particular event was advertised as a ‘Vigil for Lebanon’ and not for Hassan Nasrallah, or Hezbollah, specifically. Attendance was limited and officers were in the area throughout in order to identify any offences, including support for proscribed organisations,”
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