Met Police Detain Two Green Candidates Over Alleged Antisemitic Posts

The Metropolitan Police detained a 57‑year‑old and a 54‑year‑old woman on Thursday morning in connection with online posts that police say could amount to hate crime under the Public Order Act. Both women were standing as Green candidates in the upcoming Lambeth council elections – one in Streatham St Leonard’s ward, the other in Clapham Town.

Police released a statement confirming the arrests were made after a report on 21 April flagged antisemitic content. The investigation centres on two specific posts. Screenshots from the first candidate’s private Instagram feed show an image of an armed figure wearing a Hamas headband accompanied by the slogan “Resistance is freedom.” The second candidate shared a message stating, “Ramming a synagogue isn’t antisemitism. It’s revenge.”

The Green Party declined comment, citing the ongoing police inquiry. The party’s website has already removed the first candidate’s profile; archived pages described her as a community leader and founder of the Southern Women’s Aid Network. The second candidate’s name does not appear on the current site, though council records list her address in Lambeth and note her activism on a threatened housing estate.

Both women remain in police custody. The Public Order Act makes it an offence to stir up racial hatred, a charge that can carry up to five years’ imprisonment. The arrests follow an earlier apology from the first candidate after Labour councillors accused her of repeating harmful Jewish stereotypes.

The incident arrives as the Greens aim to expand in Lambeth, a borough traditionally dominated by Labour. A recent multilevel regression and poststratification poll of 2,022 Londoners projected the Green Party could capture up to 34 % of the vote in the borough, potentially making it the second‑largest political force there.

If the candidates are excluded from the ballot, the Greens may lose a foothold in a key target area. Watch for the council election results and any further legal developments surrounding the arrests.