Met Police order Jewish charity to switch off billboards of missing children in central London

“I’ve just had one of the most disturbing experiences in nine years at Campaign Against Antisemitism.”

Who are the police protecting here?

Those standing up to terrorists, or those who sympathise with them?

We are considering our legal options and a public protest. pic.twitter.com/2eTwhXZk19

— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) October 19, 2023

In footage posted to X/Twitter, CAA chief executive Gideon Falter described the experience as “one of the most disturbing” in the nearly a decade working at the charity, and told how he received a call from “really shaken up” volunteers who had been shooting footage of the convoy, having been stopped in their tracks by a group of protestors.

Falter said he was “astonished” that the police told the convoy go elsewhere, asking: “How on earth could police stop people in central London, in our capital, from showing the pictures of children kidnapped by a terrorist organised banned by our government?”

In a statement, Falter said: “Our volunteers were left shaken by the protesters who were harassing and intimidating them, and the police did nothing.

"Instead, the officers told our drivers to turn off their billboards and stop showing the faces of children kidnapped by a proscribed terrorist organisation, apparently because their sympathisers on British streets might attack us for showing them.

"Then when I attended the scene the police did the same thing, going so far as to restrain me, supposedly for my ‘own safety’.

“Before we set out, we had worried that these billboards might attract attention from Hamas sympathisers. We never imagined that it would be the police who would stop us from showing the faces of children kidnapped by a terrorist group banned by the UK Government."

The CAA is now considering its legal options after an “abysmal failure to uphold our rights and protect British Jews," Falter said.

The Met Police said in a statement: "We have watched the video and we understand why this has caused concern.  The officers were in the area because of a vigil that was happening nearby organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

"We have reviewed the body-worn video of the officers involved to establish the full sequence of events. This exchange happened at around the same time as the vigil came to an end and the priority of officers was the safety of everyone involved and those nearby.

"We will be making contact with the Campaign Against Antisemitism to discuss the matter further and update them on the work taking place across the Met to tackle hate crime."

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