Yahoo Finance Met appeal to find men who wore Hamas-style headbands on march
Police are searching for two men wearing alleged Hamas-style headbands during the Armistice Day march as the Met said its officers were working “round the clock” to track down more offenders.
The force said it believed the pair, whose faces were obscured by a balaclava and headscarf, had worn the clothing as a deliberate tactic to make it harder for police to identify them.
But officers investigating possible hate crimes are now seeking information from any member of the public who saw the pair before or after they put on the headwear.
Video footage is also being analysed as part of the Met’s wider efforts to identify other suspects involved in potential crimes committed either during the pro-Palestinian march or the far-Right counter protest.
“Our specialist teams will continue to identify offenders and ensure they are brought to justice,” said Met Commander Colin Wingrove.
He added that it had been “difficult to locate, intercept and arrest suspects” during Saturday’s 300,000-strong pro-Palestinian march because of the large number of people taking part and that his officers, who were attacked by far-Right protesters, had also faced “unacceptable violence” on the day.
But Scotland Yard said it had “specialist teams working around the clock to identify those responsible” and that a large number of potential crimes were still being investigated.
Highlighting the renewed appeal for information about the pair wearing the alleged Hamas-style headbands, the Met said: “We still need help identifying these two people in relation to a hate crime. We suspect they may have only worn the scarves and headbands while the image was taken.”
Today’s intensifying efforts to track down offenders came after the Met announced that a 73-year-old woman and a 66-year-old man had been questioned at a Sussex police station over an incident in which a woman was pictured carrying a placard displaying a swastika and the Star of David.
Reports named them as a former Labour councillor, Kate Varnfield, and her husband Terence, who claimed to journalists that the sign, which also carried the words “No British politician should be a friend of Israel”, had been taken out of context.
Meanwhile, another of the suspects wanted for an alleged hate crime was named in media reports as teacher Marieha Mohsin Hussain. The 36-year-old was pictured carrying a placard portraying Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman as coconuts.
