Greens turn on Zack Polanski over 'inappropriate and divisive' Golders Green police post

Ed Griffiths
Fri, 01 May 2026 20:54:41 +0000

Zack Polanski has faced backlash from fellow Green Party politicians over his "inappropriate" and "divisive" repost about the police's response to a stabbing attack in North London.

Mr Polanski retweeted a post on X criticising police officers for using force on a suspect in Golders Green after two Jewish people were stabbed.

Senior figures within the Greens have now turned on Polanski, with Welsh Green leader Anthony Slaughter distancing himself publicly during a live Senedd Election debate.

Mr Slaughter refused to defend Mr Polanski, instead describing the retweet as "inappropriate”.

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Former Green Party deputy leader Shahrar Ali went further by accusing Mr Polanski of failing to stand with the Jewish community at a time when it was "under siege like never before”.

The fury came shortly after Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley last night penned an open letter to Mr Polanski.

Sir Mark warned the Green leader risked "inflaming tensions" and amplifying "us-and-them rhetoric".

In a statement released this afternoon, Polanski said: "Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste."

He added: "Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so.

"I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter."

The statement led to further criticism of Mr Polanski, with the Liberal Democrats accusing the Green leader of making a "cynical non-apology".

The party's home affairs spokesman, Max Wilkinson MP, said: "It says a lot that when everyone else has been standing in solidarity with the victims and the Jewish community as a whole, his instinct was to attack the police officers who are keeping us safe. Polanski should, in unambiguous terms, disown the content of the ridiculous statement he shared."

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The Prime Minister also addressed the social media scandal.

He called Mr Polanski "disgraceful" and argues the Green Party leader is "not fit" to lead a political party following his reposting of criticism of police in the Golders Green attack.

Speaking on the first responders, the Prime Minister told the BBC: "In those circumstances, I think you can quite see why what could have gone through their mind."

He added: "Now, when I then see Zack Polanski come out and retweet or support a criticism of that, I think it's disgraceful... He's not fit to lead any political party."

The Prime Minister continued: "I won’t put words into their mouth, but I want everybody just to imagine what it might be like.

"You’re trying to arrest someone who has already attacked two people and has no regard for life. We know that Tasers were fired. I know from my own experience with the police, that there are only two shots in a Taser, and once you’ve shot them, there’s nothing left.

"There’s a guy on the ground, he’s got a rucksack on. And I don’t know what was going through the mind of those officers, but if I was there, I’d be thinking, he’s going to detonate something. He’s going to blow me up and everybody around here.

"In those circumstances, I think you can quite see why what could have gone through their mind is, we need to do whatever we can to disable this guy."