Two very public apologies (and an apology for the apology): Is this a new low for the Met?

The force has been involved in a series of high-profile blunders, this week. Femi Oluwole asks how the Metropolitan Police has been allowed to put its foot in it so badly, for so long – with such damaging results

Campaign Against Antisemitism chief executive Gideon Falter was threatened with arrest near a pro-Palestine demonstration (Campaign Against Antisemitism/PA) (PA Media)

It’s been a terrible week for the Met Police, who have managed to mess up in relation to both Jewish and Black people.

The force’s reaction to Gideon Falter, the man who claimed he was threatened with arrest for being “openly Jewish”, shows an embarrassing level of political carelessness. And their continued failure to take the murder of Stephen Lawrence seriously proves they still haven’t learned the lessons of institutional racism, 29 years on from Stephen’s murder.

For both incidents to occur in the same week is a PR nightmare for the force, which was already struggling with public perception of its image.

Perhaps most immediately damning is the footage that has emerged of the confrontation between Falter – the CEO of the group Campaign against Antisemitism – and a Met Police officer at the pro-Palestine march on Saturday.

It shows the police officer insisting that Falter was not stopped for being visibly Jewish. The officer said he had seen Falter “deliberately leave the pavement and walk against the flow of people” who were protesting in the street. If true, that would be seeking confrontation with the crowd, so you could argue they would be justified in preventing that behaviour. So why did the police not only apologise – but then apologise for the apology?

During the argument, the officer said: “This is a pro-Palestinian march… I’m worried about the reaction to your presence.” The implication is that no protesters would be “openly Jewish” – when we know that is not the case. There is a substantial Jewish presence on the marches each week. Many Jewish people condemn the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza.

This kind of assumption when it comes to faith and visibility both endangers and belittles Jewish people. It also smacks of victim-blaming; similar to the way too many women who report sexual assault are asked: “But what were you wearing when he attacked you?”.

The officer’s original mistake has only been compounded by the now-deleted statement from the Met accusing a faction of the crowd of filming themselves antagonising protesters, while “knowing that their presence is provocative”.

But in the context of an apology about using the phrase “openly Jewish”, an accusation must be based on deliberate action, such as walking against the flow of protesters – not mere “presence”. Anything else smacks of prejudice.

So: the Met police may have been right to stop Gideon Falter, but their wording shows a failure to understand the impact and fear of growing antisemitism in the UK.

When I attended the March Against Antisemitism last year, I spoke to a Jewish protester with a sign that said “Britain’s Jews aren’t to blame for Gaza tragedy”. He said: “We didn’t help to elect the Netanyahu government. We don’t pay Israeli taxes”. He wanted politicians to do a better job of distinguishing between ordinary Jewish people and the Netanyahu government.

Jewish TikToker Katherine Bogen has condemned the “propaganda that all Jews support Israel” and begged: “Please don’t let Netanyahu’s propaganda poison you, because it’s making people antisemitic.” She says this is making Jewish people less safe.

But the blunders don’t stop there. The force’s recent handling of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry has shown the same harmful ignorance as betrayed by the footage of the interaction with Falter.

When a new suspect in Stephen’s murder was revealed by a BBC documentary last year, the Met promised to provide answers to Stephen’s mother, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, within a week. Months passed and they wrote to her again, blaming the delay on having other commitments. Today, on the 29^th anniversary of Stephen’s murder, the Met is having to apologise again. It has shown itself utterly complicit in failing to prioritise Black victims.

How do they conscience dragging their feet on a case like this? One that is seared into our collective public consciousness?

And the bigger question is: do we have confidence the police would act any differently today?

Sadly, this week isn’t the first time we’ve seen a brutal low in the prowess of our police forces. Lest we forget: the police officers who shared pictures mocking the dead bodies of two murdered Black women; the recent report declaring the Met Police institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic; the fact that Wayne Couzens was able to continue as a police officer despite multiple allegations of sexual misconduct… all strongly suggest that when it comes to policing, vital lessons are not being learned.

The police would benefit from being a bit more “woke” to the problems in British society. At the very least, it would save them some time writing so many apologies.