Zack Polanski has apologised for sharing a social media post critical of police after the Golders Green stabbings, after the head of the Metropolitan police said the Green leader risked undermining public confidence in his officers.

Polanski, who leads the Greens in England and Wales, said he was sorry for having shared someone else’s post “in haste”.

Police were filmed detaining the suspect after two Jewish people were stabbed in the north-west London suburb on Wednesday.

Polanski retweeted, without comment, a post on X alleging that officers were “repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head” when he was already incapacitated by a stun gun.

In a statement on Friday afternoon, he said: “Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste.

“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. I have invited [Metropolitan police commissioner] Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter.’

In a letter to Polanski, Rowley had described the claim as “inaccurate and misinformed commentary”. He praised the officers as “nothing short of extraordinary”, adding: “Without their efforts to stop him, I dread to think what the outcome could have been.”

More details soon …