Green Party leader Zack Polanski has faced a backlash from within his own party after sharing a controversial social media post criticising the arrest of the Golders Green attack suspect. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley described the post as “inaccurate and misguided”.
Controversial Retweet Sparks Row
Mr Polanski is facing calls to apologise for retweeting an X post accusing Met officers of “repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head” while he was already incapacitated from being tasered during the arrest. In a rare intervention, Sir Mark Rowley publicly called out Mr Polanski, warning that sharing such content could have a “chilling effect” on policing.
Party Divisions Emerge
The row has exposed cracks within the Green Party, with senior figures failing to back Mr Polanski when questioned on Thursday evening. The party’s Welsh leader, Anthony Slaughter, criticised the post during a Senedd election debate on LBC, stating: “It does seem, from what I've read, [it] was inappropriate to retweet.”
Deputy leader Rachel Millward also distanced herself, telling BBC’s Question Time that she was “extremely grateful” for the emergency service response. “I'm sure it was beyond terrifying, and these people are brave, well trained in what they do. I'm sure they did a brilliant job,” she said. When asked if she would echo the post, she replied: “I haven't actually seen the retweet, so I'm not quite sure what he was looking at there. Of course, police response always needs to be proportionate. But the headline here is, what do we do about rising antisemitism and making sure that we don't have hate in our society?”
Met Commissioner Defends Officers
On Friday, Sir Mark insisted his rare public intervention was not political but aimed at preventing “undermining the confidence” of his officers. He told LBC: “I’m not interested in politics but if somebody eminent, rather than some of the oddballs on social media, says something which I see has a risk to undermining the confidence of my officers to act – because they need that sense of public support – they now need to intervene on that, and that’s what I did with that letter.”
He described the officers involved as “nothing short of extraordinary”, adding: “Without their efforts to stop him I dread to think what the outcome could have been. London’s Jewish communities are scared.”
Political Figures Condemn Polanski
Former home secretary Grant Shapps, who also served as defence secretary, called on Mr Polanski to apologise, labelling his intervention “disgraceful”. Speaking to The Independent, Mr Shapps said: “Zack Polanski’s intervention is not just misguided – it is frankly disgraceful. For a national political leader to second-guess those officers, amplify unverified claims, and undermine confidence in policing in the immediate aftermath is deeply irresponsible. It sends entirely the wrong signal at a time when the Jewish community, targeted here and in the past few weeks, are looking to the police for protection and reassurance. Polanski should withdraw those comments and apologise. Criticising officers who have just put themselves in harm’s way to stop further bloodshed is not principled politics – it is reckless, and he ought to be ashamed of himself.”
A Green Party spokesperson said: “Zack has seen the video like everyone else, and doesn’t know the full picture and knows it was a very difficult situation for the authorities, but we do need to understand more about the response.”
