Campaign Against Antisemitism, led by Gideon Falter, cites safety fears and promises more protests to come
Campaign Against Antisemitism has cancelled its planned counter-protest against a pro-Palestinian march through central London on Saturday.
The group, led by Gideon Falter, had said it wanted to use the “walk together” initiative to support its view that the area around the planned pro-Palestinian march was not safe for Jewish people.
Continue reading...A separate police force will report on failures relating to sixth murder suspect, Matthew White, who was never prosecuted
An independent police force will review the Metropolitan police’s handling of new evidence relating to the murder of Stephen Lawrence 30 years after his death, the mayor of London has said.
It comes after the Met commissioner, Mark Rowley, apologised to Stephen’s mother, Doreen Lawrence, for not fulfilling a promise to answer questions stemming from a BBC investigation into the murder of the 18-year-old in 1993.
Continue reading...Bill could become law this week as end of parliamentary ping-pong in sight
Q: Do you think you will be able to implement this without leaving the European convention of human rights?
Sunak says he thinks he can implement this without leaving the ECHR.
If it ever comes to a choice between our national security, securing our borders, and membership of a foreign court, I’m, of course, always going to prioritise our national security.
Continue reading...Commissioner says failure to explain why police did not pursue case against Matthew White ‘totally unacceptable’
The Metropolitan police commissioner has apologised to the mother of Stephen Lawrence for not fulfilling a promise to explain why his force failed to properly handle evidence against one of the suspects in the teenager’s murder.
A BBC investigation in 2023 identified Matthew White as the sixth suspect in the case, where only five had previously been known. The broadcaster said Doreen Lawrence had been promised answers to her questions about the way police handled the investigation.
Continue reading...Statement comes after Met police apologised for calling antisemitism campaigner ‘openly Jewish’
Being Jewish “should never be seen as provocative”, the government has said after a row over the policing of a pro-Palestine march.
In a video released by Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), the charity’s chief executive, Gideon Falter, who was wearing a kippah skull cap, was told by a Met officer at a pro-Palestine march last Saturday: “You are quite openly Jewish, this is a pro-Palestinian march. I’m not accusing you of anything but I’m worried about the reaction to your presence.”
Continue reading...Police officer had stopped Gideon Falter from walking near pro-Palestinian march while wearing kippah skull cap
The Metropolitan police has apologised after an officer used the term “openly Jewish” to an antisemitism campaigner who was threatened with arrest near a pro-Palestine march.
Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, was wearing a kippah skull cap when he was stopped from crossing the road near the demonstration in the Aldwych area of London last Saturday afternoon.
Continue reading...Two incidents happened 10 days apart in Shoreditch but are linked, Met said
A search is under way after a woman and a man were injured in suspected crossbow attacks in east London.
The incidents occurred 10 days apart in Shoreditch but were linked, the Metropolitan police said.
Continue reading...Jennifer Edmunds sued police, which have now settled after dropping charges relating to 2021 gathering on Clapham Common
The Metropolitan police has agreed to pay £10,000 in damages to a woman arrested at the Sarah Everard vigil in Clapham, her solicitors have said.
Jennifer Edmunds was detained overnight and charged with breaching Covid restrictions at the Clapham Common gathering on 13 March 2021, said Bhatt Murphy Solicitors.
Continue reading...Force was previously unable to locate sim belonging to Mia Janin, 14, after investigation into her death in 2021
Scotland Yard will return the lost sim card and phone of a bullied schoolgirl who killed herself, after the items were found months after her family requested their return.
Mia Janin, a 14-year-old pupil at Jewish free school (JFS) in Kenton, north-west London, died on 12 March 2021. Police admitted losing evidence it had gathered following her death last year – including the teenager’s main phone, second phone and sim card – but have since recovered them.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Legal adviser to pro-Palestinian protesters was taken to hospital by passersby after the incident on Westminster Bridge in London
A 71-year-old legal observer has accused a group of police officers of deliberately knocking her over and leaving her bloodied and unconscious on the ground during a Gaza ceasefire protest in London.
Lesley Wertheimer – who was wearing a hi-vis bib with “legal observer” printed on the back – crashed face down into the road when a phalanx of about 30 police officers ran towards Westminster Bridge during the first pro-Palestine demonstration of 2024.
Continue reading...Inquiry chair says there is ‘nothing to stop another Couzens operating in plain sight’ and radical overhaul is needed
Sarah Everard’s “devastating” murder was “entirely preventable”, campaigners have said, as they called for urgent reform of policing to restore women’s trust.
The Angiolini inquiry found that Wayne Couzens should never have been given a job as a police officer and that chances to stop him were repeatedly ignored and missed.
Continue reading...Former firearms officer’s history of alleged sexual offending dated back to 1995, 347-page report finds
Wayne Couzens should never have been a police officer and three separate forces “could and should have” stopped him, a damning report by Lady Elish Angiolini has found.
The 51-year-old former firearms officer’s history of alleged sexual offending and predilection for violent and extreme pornography dated back to 1995, it said. Couzens allegedly sexually assaulted a child and attempted to kidnap a woman at knife-point in the years before he abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard on 3 March 2021.
Continue reading...Latest figures show racial disparity in use-of-force incidents among inpatients in England
The number of black inpatients injured while being restrained by police in mental health units has risen dramatically – at the same time as the number of non-black inpatients injured has fallen, according to analysis of government data by the Observer.
The Home Office’s police use of force statistics for 2022/23 show that police forces across England recorded 820 incidents of force used in mental health units against black inpatients, resulting in 36 injuries. This is up from the 770 use of force incidents and 27 injuries recorded in 2021/22.
Continue reading...Met police say no body found but Ezedi has not been seen since assault on woman and her daughters in London
Police hunting the Clapham chemical attack suspect, Abdul Ezedi, say they believe he is dead after going into the River Thames at Chelsea Bridge four hours after he left a woman severely injured.
Scotland Yard said Ezedi’s body had not been found but he was last seen close to the River Thames. Officers had been looking for the 35-year-old since Wednesday 31 January when he was suspected of using a strong alkaline substance in an attack on a mother and her daughters, aged three and eight. The mother, 31, is still in hospital in an induced coma.
Continue reading...Fear of crime in UK capital is one of biggest concerns of rich Indians, says entrepreneur
Indian business people are avoiding being out and about in Mayfair over fears they could be mugged for their expensive watches after a 27% rise in “theft from a person” in London, an entrepreneur has said.
Devin Narang, an entrepreneur, told a meeting attended by David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, that fear of crime in London was one of the biggest concerns of India’s rich elite.
“People are being mugged in the heart of London – in Mayfair,” Narang, a member of the executive committee of the federation of Indian chambers of commerce and industry, said at a meeting in New Delhi, according to the Financial Times. “All CEOs in India have had an experience of physical mugging and the police [in London] not responding.”
Move comes in protest at ‘racist and vexatious’ misconduct investigation into a leading officer
The National Black Police Association (NBPA) has called for ethnic minorities to boycott joining the Metropolitan police in protest at a “racist and vexatious” misconduct investigation into a leading officer.
In the first call for a boycott in 20 years, the association claims Charles Ehikioya, chair of the Met Black Police Association (Met BPA), has been targeted because he voiced concerns about the poor behaviour of senior officers – and the racism he and his colleagues are suffering.
Continue reading...Met had previously refused to allow expected 300,000 demonstrators to hold rally on Whitehall on Saturday
The latest pro-Palestine march of hundreds of thousands of protesters through central London will end with a rally near Downing Street after a climbdown from the Metropolitan police.
Following a meeting late on Thursday afternoon, organisers of the march said they had been given permission for the end stage of Saturday’s demonstration to take place on Whitehall.
Continue reading...Incident occurred when officers called to reports of man with crossbow and other weapons trying to force entry to property
A man has died after being shot by police in south-east London, the Met has said.
Officers were called to reports of a man attempting to force entry to a residential property in Southwark while wielding a crossbow and other weapons.
Continue reading...Scotland Yard suggest recently unsealed documents containing allegations of sexual assaults do not provide new information
The Metropolitan police has rejected calls to launch an investigation into Prince Andrew, after the release of court documents relating to the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Accusations against Prince Andrew, including allegedly groping a woman’s breast during an encounter involving a puppet version of the prince and claims he sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre when she was 17, were given a new airing in the unsealing of 1,200 pages by a US court.
Continue reading...Two other men, thought to be Polish nationals, sustain life-threatening injuries as blaze destroys two-storey house in Croydon
A third man has died after a house fire in south London, police have said.
Another man sustained life-threatening injuries in the blaze that destroyed a two-storey end-of-terrace house on Friday night in Croydon, the Metropolitan police said.
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