Under-fire Met boss Sir Mark Rowley defends 'professional' officer who ... trends now

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner has defended the 'professional' conduct of the officer who threatened to arrest an 'openly Jewish' campaigner at a pro-Palestine march. 

Sir Mark Rowley has said the officers who dealt with Gideon Falter, chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), in viral footage of the the April 13 march will not face sanctions. 

However, the Met boss has admitted some of the words exchanged during the incident were 'clumsy and offensive' - as 1,500 protesters and Mr Falter are set to descend on a pro-Palestinian march this weekend to press Scotland Yard to keep the streets safe for Jewish people.

It comes as Sir Mark is facing a battle to keep his job as British Jewish groups are calling for his resignation following the 'openly Jewish' incident and other criticisms of how pro-Palestine marches are policed. 

Yesterday, Britain's top police officer had crisis meetings with two politicians that can sack him - Home Secretary James Cleverly and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. 

He said last night that the sergeant at the centre of the row had assessed there was a 'risk of confrontation' due to Mr Falter's presence. 

He told the Guardian 'The sergeant at the scene clearly assessed that there was a risk of confrontation and was trying to help Mr Falter find a different route. 

'I completely understand why the sergeant made this assessment. A couple of turns of phrase were clumsy and offensive … and we’ve apologised for that.

'The wider actions and intent of the officer were professional and in the best tradition of British police trying to prevent disorder.'

Sir Rowley added: 'The public would be horrified if we said: well, it’s obvious if those two groups come together, there’s going to be a massive fight. We’ll stand back and wait till it happens and we’ll pick up the pieces afterwards.' 

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday that the force needed to rebuild the trust of the Jewish community but added the embattled police chief had his confidence.

Sir Mark held meetings on Monday with Mr Cleverly and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who said he has 'full confidence' in the commissioner.

Representatives of Jewish community groups including the Community Security Trust and London Jewish Forum also met Sir Mark and Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist, who leads public order policing, on Monday morning.

The CST said it would continue to push for a reduction in the number of pro-Palestinian protests permitted in central London.

It released a statement after the meeting that said: 'We will continue our dialogue with police later this week to express our concerns regarding the cumulative impact of the repeated anti-Israel protests in terms of disruption and intimidation of the Jewish community.

'We urge the police and Government to work together to find ways to limit this impact through reducing the number of protests, moving them to less disruptive locations and acting firmly and consistently whenever offences are committed by people on the demonstrations.'