BBC forced to apologise as ‘ban Islam’ shouted during Golders Green update

BBC News was forced to issue an apology as shouts of “ban Islam” could be heard on a live report at the site of the Golders Green stabbing. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley was at the scene to give a briefing to reporters after two men were stabbed and a suspect apprehended on suspicion of attempted murder. Local MP Sara Sackman stood beside him at the press conference, but both were met with loud chants of “shame on you” and “resign”.

BBC reporter Rajini Vaidyanathan was live at the scene, speaking to anchor Matthew Amroliwala in the studio. Amroliwala said: “You were standing off-camera as that news briefing was being done and it was incredibly rowdy. So many people you could just hear the anger in some of the shouts aimed at the Met Commissioner, aimed at the local MP, about whether the Jewish community was safe on the streets of London.”

Vaidyanathan explained: “There’s still activity behind me here, but as they were walking up to take to the microphone, I heard a few shouts of people asking, ‘Are we going to be safe?’ because there have been members of the Jewish community who have been gathering here through the course of the afternoon.

“But it was when Sir Mark was taking questions that people really started to amplify their heckling, calling for him to resign.

“It really was difficult, actually, to even hear him answer any of the questions that journalists asked him about whether he’d lost the faith of the community here. Indeed, when the local MP Sara Sackman spoke, there were shouts and heckles.”

Amroliwala then issued an apology for the language heard during the live briefing, adding: “We were playing that news briefing just a short while ago.

“It’s worth just apologising for some of the incendiary language that could be heard on the microphones during that news briefing, so apologies for that, some of that filtering through and it could clearly be heard and some of the explicit language being used.”