Swastika ‘clearly a mark of vile antisemitism’, says David Lammy

The swastika symbol is “clearly” a mark of “vile antisemitism”, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy has insisted.

Speaking on his LBC radio slot, Lammy added: “All of us know that the swastika is a vile, terrible, Nazi image that led to the attempted destruction of the Jewish people, and certainly the loss of life of millions and millions of people.

“Not just Jewish people actually – black people were killed, disabled people were killed, gay men and women were murdered by the Nazis.

Jewish News editor Richard Ferrer discussing the policing of swastikas on our streets

“And the idea that a swastika is something where you need context, when clearly it is something that is aimed at Jewish people, particularly with what is happening in Israel-Gaza now, is horrendous.”

Debate about the swastika symbol had raged after a social media clip was posted on X in which a police officer spoke of the need for context to be considered when making an arrest, after he was questioned during last Saturday’s pro-Palestine demo in central London.

Labour shadow minister without portfolio Nick Thomas-Symonds said the story was “very concerning” but that he sympathised with officers doing public order policing, which he said was “very difficult”.

He told LBC’s Matthew Wright: “I do have sympathy for bobbies on the front line… if someone’s going to make very difficult decisions as to whether you intervene in something and make it worse, or whether you try to stand back.

The shadow minister added: “When I was shadowing the home office… I went out on the front line with officers [and] met a lot of officers trying to do a very good job in very difficult circumstances.”