A controversial anti-racism campaigner has sparked furious backlash after suggesting the brave police officers who disarmed the Golders Green terrorist used ‘contemptible abuse’ of their powers.
Metropolitan Police officers were seen bringing the Somali-born suspect – who has been named as Essa Suleiman, 45, from south-east London – to the ground using a Taser, before kicking at his head and body in an attempt to disarm him during the horrific incident on Wednesday.
But rather than praising them for their quick actions, British-Nigerian lawyer Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu questioned the use of what she termed ‘excessive force’.
Posting a video of the moment Suleiman was detained, she wrote: ‘Contemptible abuse of police power. Why kick him in the head several times when he’s already tasered & in your control?
‘Should he not be alive to be brought to justice in a court of law for stabbing 2 Jews??!! Disgusting.’
In a second tweet, she wrote: ‘Dear @metpoliceuk are you saying using excessive force to kick a criminal in the head after tasering & incapacitating him is your training policy to ‘detain’?
‘Courage in apprehending a violent man who stabbed 2 Jews isn’t in question. Excessive force AFTER apprehending him is.’
The comments prompted a mixed reaction, with many calling out Mos-Shogbamimu for criticising the police officers.
British-Nigerian lawyer Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu has sparked furious backlash after suggesting the brave police officers who disarmed the Golders Green terrorist used ‘contemptible abuse’ of their powers
The anti-racism campaigner’s comments prompted a mixed reaction, with many calling out Mos-Shogbamimu for criticising the police officers
One wrote: ‘Those officers did the right thing, for all they knew he could have been carrying explosives. The Terrorist is lucky not to have been shot.’
Another said: ‘Perhaps you’d rather that they be wearing soft, fluffy slippers next time they’re trying to incapacitate a crazed, knife wielding terrorist’, while a third quipped: ‘Sorry, would you like the terrorist to be hugged into submission…?’
Two Orthodox Jewish men, Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76, suffered severe injuries after they were stabbed and are currently recovering in hospital.
Suleiman meanwhile remains in custody. It is understood he was born in Somalia, but came to the UK as a child in the early 1990s. He is now a British citizen.
Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley previously revealed he had a ‘history of serious violence and mental health issues’ and was referred into the government counter-terrorism Prevent programme in 2020.
Dr Mos-Shogbamimu’s comments came as Green Party leader Zack Polanski has been condemned for retweeting a post similarly suggesting the policemen had been too heavy-handed.
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Zack Polanski condemned for retweet criticising police who took down Golders Green ‘terrorist’
The tweet, written by a left-wing critic, stated: ‘So essentially his officers were repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head when he was already incapacitated by Taser’.
But after sharing the post, Mr Polanski, who has previously said he would like to be the next prime minister, was accused of being ‘more concerned’ about the suspected terrorist’s wellbeing than those he is accused of stabbing in the street.
Last night a Green party spokesman said of the attack: ‘This was an appalling act of anti-Semitic violence. Jewish people deserve safety and belonging wherever they live and we stand in solidarity with the British Jewish community.
‘Our hearts go out to the victims and their loved ones and we pay tribute to the emergency services, including Hatzola ambulances, for their swift response’.
But the party leader’s retweet led to widespread criticism.
Tory MP Neil O’Brien claimed: ‘As usual, the Greens’ sympathies are with the terrorist rather than the brave police officers stopping him’.
Labour’s Jonathan Hinder tweeted: ‘This is so telling. Polanski hates the brave police officers who stopped this. He’s more concerned about the anti-Semitic terrorist with a knife in his hand! Isn’t that right Zack Polanski?’
Home Office minister Mike Tapp said he was ‘disgusted’, adding that the ‘Green Party has hit a new low’.
Labour MP David Taylor meanwhile said: ‘Zack Polanski’s sympathy for a marauding anti-Semitic terrorist rather than his victims shows why his Green Party is so dangerous.
‘How can anyone watch that video from Golders Green and not feel proud of the way those brave police officers wrestled with the attacker who would not let go of his knife?’
Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu has previously courted controversy over her views.
A vocal critic of the Royal Family, in 2023 she called Meghan Markle an ‘inspiration’ for refusing to attend King Charles’ Coronation because she was able to ‘say no to the most powerful family in Britain’.
She said at the time: ‘I think Meghan’s decision to say no to the most powerful family in Britain and to say no to the most talked about party in town is both admirable and inspiring. What Meghan is doing is exercising the power of no that comes from a place of self-worth, growth, maturity and self preservation.’
When asked if it was because Meghan ‘didn’t feel welcome’ in the UK, she replied: ‘I don’t think that’s the case here.
‘I think that any wife out there that has bad in-laws like Meghan has with the Royal Family can deduce that she has drawn a line in the sand. She is saying I will attend royal events, but on my own terms.
‘But what is more powerful is that Meghan is telling the whole world that I am rejecting any notion that because I married into the Royal Family I should be bait for toxicity, rage and abuse.
‘She is saying to society as a whole: you don’t get to tell me who I should be as a woman, as a mother and as a wife’.
She sparked debate again that same year when she was given an honorary award for her ‘contributions to race equality and combatting discrimination’ by a top British university – just days after being criticised for comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.
Dr Mos-Shogbamimu said she was ‘humbled and honoured’ to have been given the award by Newcastle University which once presented the same degree to Martin Luther King.
The award came just days after she was described as ‘repugnant’ by antisemitism advocates for her pronouncements on Israel.
Her social media posts caused particular outrage because equating Israel with the Nazis is defined as antisemitism according to an official definition.
One of her posts read: ‘Just like Nazi Germany, one day justice will be served on it.’
She later added that she felt criticism for her comments ‘falsely accuse me of antisemitism 4 daring to call out State of Israel’s extermination of 15,000 Palestinians’.
A spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said at the time: ‘This post is abhorrent. Comparing Israel to the Nazis and calling, in effect, for the elimination of the Jewish state just as Nazi Germany was eliminated, are antisemitic according to the International Definition of Antisemitism.
‘For a lawyer and academic who purports to believe in equality and inclusion to demonise the Jewish state in such repugnant terms is breathtaking.
‘People like Dr Mos-Shogbamimu were supposed to be allies of the Jewish community and this was their time to stand up for a persecuted minority. Instead, they have betrayed the Jews and exposed themselves.’
The University of Newcastle, a Russell Group institution, said it stood by its award to her which recognises ‘her commitment to race equality and her work promoting diversity and inclusion.’
Dr Mos-Shogbamimu again sparked outrage after suggesting convicted nurse Lucy Letby was able to evade justice for so long because she is a white woman.
In August 2023 she tweeted: ‘Lucy Letby exemplifies how ideology of Whiteness keeps Britain in a chokehold. They believed her tears/denials even though evidence said otherwise for no other reason than she’s White.
‘A Black or Brown nurse would’ve been reported to the police immediately & sacked for suspicion.’
The tweet was shared on the same day Letby was handed an unprecedented 14 whole-life orders for murdering seven babies and attempting to murder six more.
In another previous incident, Dr Mos-Shogbamimu repeated the n-word live on air during a debate on racism.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain, Dr Shola was debating whether England rugby fans should be banned from singing Swing Low Sweet Chariot, because the song was originally sung by slaves.
During the debate, Piers Morgan asked if black musicians should be banned from using the N-word in their lyrics.
Dr Shola replied: ‘I don’t use the N-word, and what I mean is the n***** word. I understand rap stars and black youths have almost taken that word and turned it on its head, and appropriated it for themselves.
‘What I find really interesting is white people who go: ‘Well, if you can use it then I can use it. That tells you they’re desperate to use the word n***** – but if it comes from a white person’s mouth, it is racist.’
