STORY
Green Party candidate Saiqa Ali has been arrested on suspicion of stirring up racial hatred after allegations were made about antisemitic social media posts. Ali, who had been standing for the party in Streatham St Leonard’s ward in Lambeth, was detained by Metropolitan Police officers alongside another Green candidate, Sabine Mairey, who had been standing in Clapham Town. The Met said two women, aged 57 and 54, were arrested under section 19 of the Public Order Act 1986 over alleged online material.
The allegations against Ali had already been raised before the arrest by both the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats. Lambeth Liberal Democrat leader Donna Harris wrote to Green Party leader Zack Polanski and Lambeth Green leader Scott Ainslie on 16 April, citing reports that Ali had allegedly shared material supporting Hamas, promoted conspiracy theories about 9/11 and claimed that the Government had too many “Zionist Jews”. The Guardian reported that Ali had allegedly posted an image of an armed man linked to Hamas with the caption “resistance is freedom”.