Polanski said he was sorry for having shared someone else’s post ‘in haste’. Photograph: Gary Roberts/SOPA Images/ShutterstockPolanski said he was sorry for having shared someone else’s post ‘in haste’. Photograph: Gary Roberts/SOPA Images/ShutterstockZack Polanski apologises for sharing tweet criticising police at Golders Green stabbingsApology comes after head of Met police said Green party leader risked undermining public confidence in his officers
Zack Polanski has apologised for sharing a social media post critical of police after the Golders Green stabbings, after the head of the Metropolitan police said the Green leader risked undermining public confidence in his officers.
Polanski, who leads the Greens in England and Wales, said he was sorry for having shared someone else’s post “in haste”.
Keir Starmer, speaking to the BBC before the apology, described Polanski’s actions as “disgraceful” and unfair on police faced with making split-second decisions.
Police were filmed detaining the suspect after two Jewish people were stabbed in the north-west London suburb on Wednesday. Footage of the arrest shared on social media shows two officers appearing to kick the man on or near his head.
Polanski retweeted, without comment, a post on X alleging that officers were “repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head” when he was already incapacitated by a stun gun.
In a statement on Friday afternoon, he said: “Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste.
“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. I have invited [Metropolitan police commissioner] Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter.’
In a letter to Polanski, Rowley had described the claim as “inaccurate and misinformed commentary”. He praised the officers as “nothing short of extraordinary”, adding: “Without their efforts to stop him, I dread to think what the outcome could have been.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme for an interview that will be broadcast on Saturday morning, Starmer said that, having seen the footage, police might have believed an explosive device was in the rucksack carried by the suspect, and that “there would be the instinctive reaction, which is disable, by whatever means – we have to stop that happening”.
He added: “You have to make a decision in that split moment according to the situation as you understand it to be. And for politicians to wade in, as Zack Polanski did, is disgraceful. He’s not fit to lead any political party.”
Speaking on Friday morning, Rowley told the BBC that the letter was not an “intervention to politics”, adding: “I’m simply dealing with operational policing and defending my officers because I want them to have confidence to protect Londoners.
“Officers need confidence in confronting these dangerous people, and if an eminent person thoughtlessly steps into that and undermines that, then I’m going to deal with that.”
Rowley said: “Of course, there will always be inaccuracies, eccentricities and nonsense online. But when someone eminent puts something out there, which goes fundamentally to the confidence in my officers to act in the protection of London, when we’ve had two officers confront someone they believe to be a terrorist, who wasn’t complying and they were afraid he might have an explosive device – can you imagine the fear and how difficult it is to deal with?”
Essa Suleiman, 45, appeared in court on Friday charged with the attempted murders of three people during two knife attacks in London on Wednesday – the incident in Golders Green and an alleged attack during a personal dispute in south London.
Explore more on these topicsShareReuse this content
