Live updates as UK raises terror threat to severe after Golders Green stabbing

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Police are to review whether marches will go ahead in the coming weeks after the UK terrorism threat level was raised to “severe”.

The Stop the War Coalition is planning a major demonstration in London on 16 May to mark Nakba Day, commemorating the 1948 displacement of Palestinians during the creation of Israel.

Asked about marches due to take place in the coming weeks, head of Counter Terrorism Policing Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said: “As part of our review into the change in the threat level, policing will be reviewing all events across the country.

“My teams will be working with forces to ensure that we have appropriate protective security measures in place, that the appropriate mitigations are put in place, and we will be engaged with communities who will be affected by large events, as well as those involved in the events, so that we can keep them safe as they can be.”

Britain’s top police officer says Green Party leader Zack Polanski sharing a post about the arrest of the Golders Green terror suspect will have a “chilling effect”.

Mr Polanski retweeted an X post accusing officers of “repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head” when he was already incapacitated from being Tasered.

But Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told Mr Polanski in a letter that he was disappointed, adding that the post was “inaccurate and misinformed”.

Sir Mark said the officers were “nothing short of extraordinary”, saying: “Without their efforts to stop him, I dread to think what the outcome could have been.”

He added: “London’s Jewish communities are scared.

“They have experienced a series of targeted attacks on the community, and they expect our officers to act, protect them.

“That is exactly what our officers did yesterday. Your decision to criticise these officers, using your public profile and reach will have a chilling effect.”

A Green party spokesperson: “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 Campaign Against Antisemitism says words are no longer enough and called for a “timeline for action” following Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement of a crackdown on antisemitism.

A spokesperson said: “This is the second time since October 2023 that an embattled prime minister has belatedly given a strong speech on antisemitism that finally says what we’ve been saying all along but comes with no timeline for action.

“Words are no longer enough. Everything that the prime minister has said this afternoon could have been enacted over the past two years of this premiership, and he has only said them now because more Jews have been injured and we announced a rally outside Downing Street calling for a plan.

”We are fed up of words: we need action – and the prime minister still gave no sense of timeline of when that action will be forthcoming. This is a national emergency. Where is the urgency?”

The campaign says the situation is a national emergency.

Dozens of protesters gathered outside Downing Street to demand that the prime minister tackle antisemitism.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) organised the rally after two Jews were stabbed in Golders Green on Wednesday.

Stephen Silverman, the CAA’s director of investigations and enforcement, told protesters in Whitehall, some of whom held Israeli flags: “We have seen no meaningful action which has consequences playing out before our eyes.

“This government has appeased this fanatical hatred. They gaslit us.

“Patriotic British Jews now worry about their safety each and every day and question their future in this country.

“Prime minister, how are you going to deal with this? Prime minister, what is your plan?”

Head of counter-terrorism policing Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said police would be reviewing all marches across the UK after the UK terrorism threat level was raised to severe.

He said: “As part of our review into the change in the threat level, policing will be reviewing all events across the country.

“My teams will be working with forces to ensure that we have appropriate protective security measures in place, that the appropriate mitigations are put in place, and we will be engaged with communities who will be affected by large events, as well as those involved in the events, so that we can keep them safe as they can be.”