A London police officer was caught on camera saying that swastika flags at pro-Hamas protests “need to be taken into context” and might not always be antisemitic.
A woman in the video that has gone viral on social media asks the Metropolitan Police officer why another cop told her “that a swastika was not necessarily antisemitic or a disruption of public order.”
“That doesn’t seem right to me, a swastika is a swastika. Under what context is a swastika not disrupting public order?” She asked the officer.
The officer replied, clarifying that he followed statutes designed to assist police in managing disruptive protestors, but he did not explicitly categorize the Nazi symbol. “I haven’t said anything about it — that it is or isn’t — everything needs to be taken in context, doesn’t it?” he remarked.
The conversation continued with the woman pressing for clarity on how a swastika could ever be seen as anything but antisemitic and disruptive. “Why is a swastika not immediately antisemitism? Why does it need context?” she questioned, seeking to understand the officer’s stance.
Appearing flustered, the officer ended up admitting that he has limited knowledge of symbols, acknowledging the swastika’s historical association with the Nazi Party.
“I know the swastika was used by the Nazi Party during their inception, and during the period of them being in power in Germany in 1934, I’m aware of that,” he stated.
Britain has seen a notable increase in antisemitic offenses, with 218 incidents recorded in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks, a substantial rise from the 15 reported during the same period in the previous year. Similar trends were observed by other police forces across the UK, including Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and Merseyside, all reporting significant increases in antisemitic offenses.
