Police investigate Green Party leader Polanski over social media image
UK police have launched inquiries after Reform UK reported a social media image shared by Green Party leader Zack Polanski, allegedly inciting murder.
Police are conducting inquiries into an image shared by Green Party leader Zack Polanski on Instagram, after Reform UK reported it for inciting murder. The image showed a man wearing a black T-shirt with the words “we’re only making plans for Nigel” alongside a photograph of a guillotine. A Green Party spokesperson said Polanski “condemns the image on the T-shirt” and accepted being tagged in a post with 20 images “without realising there was more to it than he had seen.”
Nigel Farage shared a screenshot of the image on X and wrote: “This is what Zack Polanski has just posted on his Instagram. If I was to post anything as inciteful then I would expect to be arrested, and so should Polanski.” Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf said Polanski was “inciting murder,” and that sharing the image weeks after the murder of former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe was “staggering.”
The image has since been removed from Polanski’s Instagram account. It was shared in a collaborative post with other accounts as part of a carousel of images from a Green Party event on Sunday. The T-shirt phrase comes from the song “Making Plans for Nigel” by XTC.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “Earlier today, we received a third-party report relating to an image shared on social media. We take reports of this nature extremely seriously, and officers are conducting inquiries into the matter.” Yusuf wrote on social media: “Zack Polanski has posted to his 713k Instagram followers a photo of a man in a T-shirt calling for the beheading of Nigel Farage. Polanski is inciting murder. It must be treated as such by the police.”
A Green Party spokesperson added: “The T-shirt is clearly in poor taste, especially at a time of heightened fears for the security of public figures, having experienced multiple threats himself [Polanski]. He and the Green Party call on everyone involved in public discourse to show kindness and not encourage more division.” According to the BBC, Polanski has not been contacted by the police.
