The Green Party leader wasn’t challenged on the inaccurate comment during an appearance on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday.
The Green Party leader sparked backlash after sharing comments about the Golders Green attacks (Image: Getty)
Zack Polanski has inaccurately defended his response to the Golders Green attacks by suggesting the suspect was handcuffed when he was actually armed with a knife. The Green Party leader made the comments on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme on Wednesday while defending his criticism of the police officers who apprehended the alleged attacker. Mr Polanski had shared a post on social media criticising the officers after footage showed them repeatedly kicking a man who appeared to be the suspect in the head after he had been tasered.
He told Nick Robinson: “Two things can be true at the same time: officers are incredibly brave when they run towards scenes of crimes that most people, including myself, will want to run away from. At the same time, I think it is accurate, and that I was also traumatised by seeing someone handcuffed and repeatedly kicked in the head.”
The video, widely circulated online, showed the man not in handcuffs, with officers appearing to shout “drop the knife” several times. Social media commentators picked up on the error, with Mark Wallace, chief executive of the Total Politics group, writing: “This isn’t right. The attacker wasn’t handcuffed, he was still holding a knife.”
Two men were stabbed in the horror attack in north London last week (Image: Getty)
BBC presenter Robinson did not challenge Mr Polanski on the claim, instead rebuking him for failing to answer the question of why he chose to “empathise with the attacker” over the officers who “feared for their own lives and were trying to protect other people”.
The Green leader’s response to the stabbing of two Jewish men in the north London suburb last week was condemned both by politicians from other parties and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley.
He apologised for “sharing a tweet in haste”, adding: “Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so.”
Mr Polanski, 43, has led the Greens to record polling levels and a parliamentary by-election victory in Manchester since becoming leader in September 2025.
His approval rating has fallen following the controversy, however, marking a shift from the surge his party has enjoyed in the polls since he took over, according to a survey by More in Common.
Having had an overall rating of -13%, just above Reform UK’s Nigel Farage and behind Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch and Lib Dem chief Sir Ed Davy, Mr Polanski’s rating has now hit -27%.
It marks a 14-point drop in the last week and means he is now trailing Mr Farage, despite remaining well ahead of Sir Keir Starmer, who has an approval rating of -45%.
Luke Tryl, executive director of More in Common, said the shift in opinion indicated that the Golders Green backlash had “very definitely cut through” ahead of Thursday’s local elections.
The Express has contacted the Green Party for comment.