The Guardian today - clearly showing he was far from being an innocent man walking back from prayers. If he'd being wearing a 'not my king' hat at a pro royalist gathering he'd have been man handled out the way, or if he'd been wearing a green and white football shirt at a Orange Parade he'd have been arrested 'for his own safety'. Such one sided comments on here supporting a guy who was out to do his own 'protest' and to get the reaction he got.
But a group representing Holocaust survivors, who attended the same pro-Palestinian demonstration as Falter, disputed his claim that the march was a no-go zone for Jews.
The group, which included Stephen Kapos, a Holocaust survivor from Budapest, and four other child survivors, said in an email: “Throughout [Falter’s] interactions with the police, we were standing only a few yards away from him, yet we experienced nothing but warmth and solidarity from the pro-Palestine demonstrators and not a hint of antisemitism
“Our group was ‘openly Jewish’ in that we all wore placards saying that, as descendants of Holocaust survivors, we oppose the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
“Every major pro-Palestine demonstration in London has included a large Jewish bloc which has received nothing but support and warmth from their fellow demonstrators.”
Behind the Met’s deleted statement on X lay months of resentment within the force that Falter’s group or its allies were deliberately going to demonstrations in the hope of catching the Met out.
Met insiders were apparently dubious that Falter had been out merely for a stroll and just happened across the march. Falter has said he had been walking in the capital after attending synagogue and was not there to counter-protest.
Falter was filmed on the north and south sides of Aldwych in different encounters with officers. In one video on the north side, he said he wanted to “carry on my way” and was asked how many people were with him. He said he was waiting for a couple of friends.
In another, on the south side, he said he wanted to walk on the north side. An officer says he had already been seen “walking against the march”.