Wales Greens leader chides Polanski for sharing Golders Green social post

The Wales Greens leader has criticised Zack Polanski, who heads the party in England, for sharing a social media post which condemned the police's handling of the Golders Green attack.

Two officers Tasered and kicked the suspect in the head while trying to prise a knife from his hand after he had stabbed two Jewish men in the north London neighbourhood.

Polanski reposted a post on X, which said: "Essentially his officers were repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head when he was already incapacitated by Taser."

Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley said he was "disappointed" by Polanski while Wales Greens leader Anthony Slaughter said it did "seem…inappropriate to re-tweet".

Slaughter made the comments on LBC radio - in the final debate featuring all six leaders of the main parties in Wales.

Earlier today, Sir Mark wrote a letter to Polanski that he was "disappointed" the politician had amplified "inaccurate and misinformed commentary" after he shared a post condemning the actions of police in subduing the suspect in the Golders Green attack.

The Met chief said that the officers had not been armed and feared the suspect had been carrying an explosive device.

Even after being Tasered, he "refused to show his hands, was violent and continued to pose a clear threat", the force said.

The Met also released footage from the officers' body-worn cameras, in which they can be heard shouting repeatedly for the suspect to "get down on the ground" before he is Tasered, and then "drop the knife".

It came after video shared on social media appeared to show the moment of the arrest, in which the officers can be seen kicking the man in the head several times in the struggle to wrest the knife from him.

Responding to Sir Mark's letter, a Green Party spokesperson told the BBC: "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."

The attacks on the Jewish community came up in a live debate on LBC radio on next week's Senedd election featuring the leaders of the Wales Green party, Welsh Labour, Reform UK Wales, Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

Slaughter told presenter Iain Dale: "I was made aware of this on the way here, just shortly beforehand. I haven't seen the tweet. I understand, as you say, Zack retweeted a tweet that it does seem, from what I've read, was inappropriate to retweet.

"I know that Zack and his other colleagues in the London Assembly do work closely with the Met Police, so there will be discussions afterwards to see what went wrong and how this can be better handled in future".

The Green party has been asked to comment on Slaughter's remarks.

Welsh Conservative leader, Darren Millar said he was very concerned about anti-semitism and raised concerns about the education system.

Millar said: "I'm afraid that some of our universities have become hotbeds of anti-semitism.

"I think it's a disgrace that some of universities here in Wales have not adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-semitism".

Millar added that members of the Jewish community in Wales had also raised concerns with him about "some of the textbooks used in schools, particularly those that talk around the Middle East conflict, and whether that's helping to fuel some anti-Jewish sentiment".

Welsh Labour's Eluned Morgan, the first minister, said her government had been "very serious" about promoting community cohesion but: "That's our interest. I think there are other parties here tonight notably Reform, who are interested in creating divisions in our communities and that is not the kind of Wales I want to see in the future".

Reform UK's leader in Wales, Dan Thomas, took exception to her comment: "I find that really surprising because everyone on this panel knows that I used to be a councillor in Golders Green area where this happened".

"I know this community really well. They've been living for decades in fear".

Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth said his thoughts were with the Jewish community of Golders Green.

He added that that he'd been talking to a member of Cardiff's Jewish community and said we had to make sure that "enough investment" was made available to "look after communities that feel threatened, be they Jewish, Muslim or any other religious groups or minorities".

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds said it was time for everybody to "come together and speak with one voice as Welsh party leaders" and "step up security if necessary" to protect people who are "scared and fearful".

Voters in Wales go to the polls next Thursday to elect 96 new MSs.