Police say it was ‘not advisable’ for officer to have posed with child dressed as a terrorist

The Metropolitan Police has admitted “it was not advisable” for one of its officers to pose for a photograph with a child dressed as a Hamas terrorist.

The child, whose face is entirely covered with a keffiyeh headdress, with only the eyes showing, is pictured during Sunday’s pro-Palestinian demonstration with a kneeling female police officer on one side and a male officer with riot gear on the other side.

In a social media post on Twitter/X, the Met said: “We always encourage our officers to be engaging and friendly with the public.

“However, in the context of a protest about such a contentious issue, we acknowledge that it was not advisable for the officer to agree to pose for the photograph.

“No action will be taken against the officer who we have no reason to think was doing anything other than trying to positively engage.”

There is no acknowledgement by the Met that there are actually two of its officers in the photograph.