Met Police officers have been pictured scraping posters of Israeli hostages snatched by Hamas gunmen from a shopfront in London.
The image taken outside a shop believed to be in Edgware sparked outrage after it appeared on social media on Sunday (October 29). A spokesperson for the Met Police said the removal of the posters was to reduce tensions in the area.
In the photo, the police can be seen peeling away several kidnapped posters, which have appeared across the UK in response to Hamas militants taking 239 hostages from Israel into Gaza during the group’s shock attack on October 7.
One X-user, in response to the image, tweeted on Sunday: “Instead of arresting the mob chanting antisemitic slogans today the @metpoliceuk are removing hostage posters from a place in Edgware. WTF is going on in this country”.
The tweet followed a march in central London on Saturday (October 28) by supporters of Palestine demanding a ceasefire in the latest Israel-Hamas conflict.
Some chanted “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, despite controversy over the slogan’s meaning. More than 1,000 Met Police officers were on duty at the march, which saw at least nine confirmed arrests.
The appearance of the Edgware image comes after the Jewish community was told the Israeli military was “troubled” by the rise in antisemitism in Britain since Hamas’s attack. Removal of similar posters has sparked outrage in recent weeks amid heightened tensions between some Palestinian and Israeli supporters.
UK-based Jewish charity, Community Security Trust (CST), said it had recorded about 800 incidents of antisemitism since October 7, when Palestinian militants killed about 1,400 people on Israeli soil.
A second X-user tweeted the image, commenting: “Things are bad enough without needing to see @metpoliceuk joining in to tear down posters of our kidnapped family.”
Fellow X-users expressed outrage at the image, with one responding: “This is outrageous. These officers should be relieved from duty immediately.”
A Met Police spokesman told Express.co.uk: “We recognise why people are concerned about this photo and want an explanation.”
The spokesman said the posters were put up late on Saturday night and the Met received at least two calls from local residents who believed the posters were put on the shopfront’s shutters in retaliation for comments about the conflict between Israel and Hamas made on social media by a person linked to the business.
The spokesman added it appeared that print outs of those comments may also have been put up next to the posters.
He said: “Both people who reported the posters to us were concerned it would escalate an already tense situation. Officers went to the shop and acting in good faith they removed the posters in an effort to prevent any such escalation.
“The removal of these posters elsewhere in London has caused anger and upset in recent weeks. We know a photo of our officers doing the same will cause further concern, particularly for anyone not aware of the full facts reported to us at the time.
“We have no wish to limit the rights of anyone to protest or to raise awareness of the plight of those kidnapped and the terrible impact on their families. But we do have a responsibility to take reasonable steps to stop issues escalating and to avoid any further increase in community tension. On this occasion, that is what officers were trying to do.”
The spokesman said the force is in contact with local partners, community leaders and those directly involved, adding: “We are also assessing the content of the comments made on social media to identify any potential offences.”
