Anybody understand the fuss about this Jewish bloke not being able to cross the road?

While the pro Palestine march was going past,I seriously just don't understand the scramble to apologise to him?
IMHO he was obviously visibly Jewish and just looking to cause a scene or he could easily have waited or detoured.
If I was wearing a Barnsley shirt and the police were say escorting 'lively' opposition fans to the ground and I was daft enough to try to cross in the middle of them the police would surely ( rightly) make me wait until they had passed.

 

Playing Devil’s advocate, you shouldn’t be able to detain someone from crossing a road because it might make other people commit a crime. I think the issue is around using the reason that they are “openly Jewish” not “for their own protection”.
Considering the prime minister thinks he can tell people to stop being sick and get to work after letting his own staff have 3 months off to avoid testifying to the Covid enquiry I can’t help think it’s just another story being pumped to the front page of the news to draw attention away from government gaffes.

 

What’s quite clearly happening is that there’s quite a few right wing Jews who are deliberately trying to antagonise people to try & get them to make racist remarks & they’re failing miserably. There’s load of Jewish people taking part in the marches.

Out of hundreds of thousands of protestors they get a few idiots holding up controversial placards but the overwhelming majority of people attending are decent people who are horrified at what’s going off in Gaza.

 

For me he was obviously stopping him for his own protection' the guy was being awkward saying he wanted to cross the road where he knew there was a chance of confrontation' if the policeman had allowed him to cross and he got battered the police would be criticised for not protecting him' they really can't win. Maybe get it on his bodycam that he's stopping him for his own protection and make it clear that whatever he does he does so at his own risk then let him crack on' i really can't see what else the guy could do.

 

I think that was the point though, he didn’t say it was for his own protection, he said it was because he was openly Jewish, which isn’t a reason to stop someone going somewhere and when written as a headline makes it sound like he was stopped and prevented from free access to somewhere because he was Jewish.

 

It's that anyone should be able to cross any road whenever they want.

 

Police are in a difficult position here, the individual officer could have handled it better, by explaining that his presence and perceived behaviour was likely to cause a disturbance of the peace and therefore he needed to leave. I don't think it was racist or anti-Jewish, just badly handled. Seems the guy was probably there to try and get a reaction lets be honest.
I was nearly arrested at Doncaster train station, because I was waiting for a train and a football special pulled in full of Newcastle fans, I just happen to know they'd lost @Arsenal. I was minding my own business, but some of their fans decided to engage in some "banter" with me, I just held up my hands with the old 2-0 and laughed - Police came and told me I was going to get arrested - they started it, they were the ones threatening me, but there you go. I suppose from the Police point of view, easier to get me in the back of a van then 200 Geordies.

 

he is paid a 6 figure sum as chair of a Jewish organisation which promotes Israeli settling in Palestinian homelands

 

Love or hate them but the police have a tough enough job with out people going out of their way to cause trouble. What's that saying about t.ts on a bull. Or if it looks quacks, and walks like a duck then it's a duck.​

 

The bold bit is the problem, particularly the fact it was said out loud by the officer.

Replace that scenario with one where the statement is visibly black, or any other equivalent based on someone's race or religion, and imagine the likely reaction to it.

The Jewish community are pointing out that there's a difference in how it's interpreted/responded to, in comparison, as the unconscious (or in some cases, very conscious) bias is so endemic.

 

completely agree

 

Youre right with "written as a headline" ' its plain to see what the officer was doing and as i say if he'd allowed him to cross and something happened to him he'd have been to blame again' i agree that his choice of words could have been better but it was a pressure situation and a heat of the moment thing and i personally think he did the right thing' the only other option was to let him cross but make it clear that its at his own risk...

 

Apparently, there is a longer video that shows more than was originally released - and the Jewish man in question has a history of agitating similar events...

 

Its just been on radio news that he's an antisemitism campaigner..

 

He was 'openly jewish' he's clearly wearing his skull cap. He was just looking to cause trouble.

 

Seemingly, as per usual, we're being fed only images that suit the victim's narrative. The footage went on for some 15 minutes and seems to suggest the Jewish guy was lucky not to get arrested for assaulting a police officer. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...t-not-full-picture-says-ex-senior-met-officer

 

If he wanted to cross the street because he was on the way to his mam's for tea and the police stopped him then yes, I could see what all the fuss was about. But he didn't, he wanted to provoke a reaction. He'd already crossed the street while the demonstration was happening a few times but it hadn't caused the fuss he had hoped. He wanted to keep on doing it until an incident took place. If the police had let him cross he would have just crossed back again. And again. The police decided they'd had enough of him playing silly buggers and chose to prevent any incident taking place. And the reason he was doing this so close to the police is that he wanted their protection should he manage to provoke the reaction he intended.

I'm all for freedom and civil liberty but when someone is simply acting like a prat I start to lose sympathy.

The policeman in question is probably embarrassed by his choice of words, but his patience, of which he showed a boat load, was being pushed way beyond the breaking point of most people.

There's nowt to see here. There's no descrimination. There's just a bloke trying to do his job, trying to keep everyone safe, being pushed beyond what's reasonable by someone who is trying to provoke a situation rather than just go about his business.

 

I bet they let the chicken cross the road, even if nobody knows why

 

Should have restricted him to the 10 mile radius rule. Or accused him of going unofficial picketing.
Joking aside, Anyone who thinks freedom of movement should be granted to everyone on every occasion. Think again. There are always those that want to provoke others.