Revealed: Man threatened with arrest by police for 'breaching the peace' by ... trends now
A man who was threatened with arrest by a Metropolitan Police officer after trying to cross the road at a pro-Palestine march is the chief executive of a leading Jewish group.
Gideon Falter, who is the CEO of Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), was pulled aside by an officer who said he was 'breaching the peace' because he was 'quite openly Jewish'.
Video of the confrontation, which was shared online, has sparked a furious response with the Met being branded 'beyond appalling' for the incident, which took place as Mr Falter tried to walk around London after going to a synagogue last Saturday.
In the incident, which took place in the Aldwych area of the capital, Mr Falter was told his presence was 'antagonising a large group of people'. The Met Police said it was aware of the video and 'fully acknowledge the worry it has caused'.
The CAA has called for a mass demonstration tomorrow in response, saying 'enough is enough' and that people need to 'stand up for the tolerance and decency of which this country is so rightly proud, simply by going for a walk'.
The Metropolitan Police has been branded 'beyond appalling' after an officer threatened to arrest a Jewish man for 'breaching the peace' as he is stopped from crossing the road
This officer was seen blocking the Jewish man, Gideon Falter, from crossing the road amid because he was 'quite openly Jewish'
Mr Falter, pictured here on Good Morning Britain in 2018, is the CEO of Campaign Against Antisemitism
In a video shared by CAA from Saturday's march, Mr Falter - who was wearing a kippah on his head - was seen telling the officer: 'I don't want to stay here, I want to leave.'
The officer then replies: 'In that case sir, when the crowd is gone I will happily escort you out.'
After the defiant man attempts to walk across the road in the Aldwych area, the officer blocks him and says: 'I don't want anybody antagonising anybody... and at the moment sir, you are quite openly Jewish. This is a pro-Palestinian march.
'I am not accusing you of anything but I am worried about the reaction to your presence.'
Later on in the video, another officer says: 'There's a unit of people here now. You will be escorted out of this area so you can go about your business, go where you want freely or if you choose to remain here because you are causing a breach of peace, with all these other people, you will be arrested.'
He clarifies: 'Your presence here is antagonising a large group of people that we can't deal with all of them if they attack you... because your presence is antagonising them.'
Mr Falter has been the head of Campaign Against Antisemitism since 2014 and is also vice chairman of the Jewish National Fund UK, a charity which supports 'Zionist pioneers' in Israel.
The 39-year-old previously worked in commercial real estate and management consultancy before building CAA.
He was named as one of the 'top 100 people positively influencing Jewish life' by the Algemeiner Journal, a US-based newspaper which coves Jewish and Israel-related issues.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center has described him as a 'Jewish hero who proves that there are still powerful ways to leverage democratic rules to serve justice and protect Jewish community'.
Speaking afterwards, Mr Falter said: 'For months we have been told that when anti-Israel protests course through London it's perfectly safe for Jews.
'Notwithstanding the antisemitic placards, the genocidal slogans, the glorification of Hamas, the Islamist flags, the swastikas, notwithstanding all of that, it's still safe to be openly Jewish on the streets of London during these anti-Israel protests. That's what we're told and yet that's not true in practice.'
Mr Falter said he was not criticising the officers who he spoke to on Saturday, as they are 'put in impossible positions week in, week out'.
He said: 'They're being asked to police huge protests with few officers where there's all sorts of criminality on display from racism to glorification of terrorism, and even violence.'
He added: 'It has been six months now where every single weekend we have to witness the streets of London awash with people, many of whom seem to have no problem at all declaring their full-throated support for Hamas, waving around antisemitic placards, calling for jihad, showing swastikas, waving antisemitic flags. It's enough.
'I'm asking you to join us, whether you're Jewish or not. The next march is on April 27, it's a Saturday. Take a walk with us, the Jewish community,
