Zack Polanski has accused Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley of interfering in the local elections by issuing a public letter condemning the Green Party leader’s criticism of officers who detained the Golders Green terror suspect — reigniting a row that has dominated the final days of the campaign and drawn fierce condemnation from senior Cabinet ministers.
The Green Party leader initially backed down last week, deleting his post and apologising after Sir Mark published an open letter warning that his criticism of officers would “inflame tensions” by amplifying “us and them rhetoric.” But on Sunday, Polanski reversed course again, telling Sky News that “open letters aren’t an appropriate way to do politics — in a local election,” and suggesting the Commissioner’s intervention had crossed a line into electoral territory.
The original dispute arose after Polanski reposted content criticising officers who detained Essa Suleiman, 45, the man arrested over the stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green in a formally declared terror attack. Polanski described the officers as “repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head when he was already incapacitated by a Taser.” The Met subsequently released body-camera footage showing the suspect approaching officers with a knife before being Tasered and continuing to try to attack them as he lay on the ground. The force praised the officers’ “true courage” in detaining him under those circumstances.
Polanski on Sunday acknowledged the footage was difficult but insisted his concerns deserved a proper forum. “I found it all very traumatic, especially as a Jewish person,” he said. “I also found the video circulating online traumatic too. I accept that conversation about that video needs to be had with the Commissioner rather than on X.” He confirmed he would be meeting Sir Mark and said he planned to raise his concerns directly.
The response from the Government was withering. Communities Secretary Steve Reed said Polanski’s apology “clearly means nothing” given he was still questioning the police response. “Brave police officers ran towards unknown danger, risking their lives, at the time having no idea how much further the situation could have escalated,” Reed said. “He should be utterly ashamed — he is completely unfit to lead a political party.” Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was equally direct, saying the officers “were armed only with a Taser that they had already discharged” and that Polanski’s conduct demonstrated he was “not fit to lead a political party.”
The row comes as the Greens are projected to make their most significant local election gains in London in the party’s history. A major YouGov poll found Labour support in the capital collapsing, with the Greens on course to win control of four London councils and potentially come first in as many as eight — having never previously topped a poll in the capital. The party’s surge in inner London is being driven in significant part by its hard stance on Gaza.
Polanski separately clashed with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the chant “globalise the intifada” at pro-Palestine marches. Starmer described it last week as an example of “extreme racism” and suggested those who use it should face prosecution. Polanski disagreed, saying: “I don’t think policing people’s language is going to make Jewish people feel safer in this country.”
He also returned to the question of whether pro-Palestine marches posed a genuine threat to Jewish communities, saying: “There are times where I, as a Jewish person, walk on Palestinian marches where Jewish people say that makes them feel unsafe. I don’t think that actually makes them unsafe, clearly, because I’m a Jewish person who is on that march.” He described the marches as “peace marches,” adding: “If it’s a general perception that they’re hate marches then that’s the world upside down.”
