Scotland Yard Addresses Viral Video of Cops Tearing Down Hamas Hostage Posters

London’s Metropolitan Police released a statement Monday about a viral video in which police officers were seen tearing down posters of people taken hostage by Hamas during the group’s attacks on Israel. The footage prompted outrage in Britain, where tensions remain high about the state’s response to the ongoing crisis in Gaza. Scotland Yard’s statement said the force recognizes “why people are concerned and want an explanation.” It said the posters were put on the shutters of a shop in the north London borough of Edgware on Saturday night and that local residents complained. “They believed the posters were put on these specific shutters as a retaliation for comments about the conflict between Israel and Hamas that were made on social media by a person associated with the business,” the statement read. It added that the residents who called the police were “concerned that it would escalate an already tense situation” and that officers acted in “good faith” when they took the posters down to “prevent any such escalation.”

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