Mick Hartley

This escalating East London primary school affair is straight from the familiar Islamist playbook, creating a false anti-Muslim panic to get their way:

Masked men climbed the fence of a ­primary school at night to hang Palestinian flags around its perimeter in a row between parents and teachers.

Video of the incident, which is being reviewed by police for offences, shows a small group of activists using ladders to climb fences and lampposts surrounding Barclay Primary School in Leyton, east London.

On Wednesday, the school said that it had been forced to close early for Christmas because of “escalating threats against staff” after “malicious fabrications” had been spread online.

It was claimed by parents and social media users that teachers had “bullied” and “traumatised” an eight-year-old boy and other pupils after they showed support for Palestinians by wearing ­badges and stickers on their clothes at school.

Does anyone actually believe that happened, this supposed bullying and traumatisation of a pupil? It's the classic Islamist line – a concocted outrage. Say that the child is lying, or that he's been pushed into making the claim, and you'll end up in deeper trouble – "how dare you!"

The school said that internal and ­external investigations had found no evidence of misconduct to support the claims but that it had warned some families that “inappropriate comments . . . including extremist or divisive comments” made by children on its premises would lead to referrals to the Prevent counterextremism programme.

The row escalated into a protest on Thursday in which hundreds of ­pro-Palestinian supporters gathered outside its gates and demanded the ­resignation of the head teacher.

To demonstrate the power of Islamic protest. 

Hours later, a TikTok clip emerged showing men wearing black hoods and with their faces covered approaching the school in the dark to tie Palestinian flags around the fence.

The footage shows some of the men pointing a finger upwards, which ­signifies the “oneness of God” in Islamic prayer ritual. The ­gesture has also been used by extremists including members of Islamic State and Hamas in propaganda images.

A nasheed, a type of devotional song that is sometimes used in jihadist ­propaganda, can be heard playing in the background. According to a counter­extremism expert who works with police, the group were likely to be “activists” who were “replicating the style of the jihadi-type videos”, rather than Islamist extremists.

Eh? Why would they not be Islamist extremists? Or indeed plain Islamists? There may well be some hard left Free Palestine involvement here, but surely not to the extent of "pointing a finger upwards, which signifies the “oneness of God” in Islamic prayer ritual". Are they getting ready to pretend this isn't happening. Move on…nothing to see here.

The Metropolitan Police said it was “aware of the video circulating on social media”, adding that the footage would be reviewed by officers and “any ­offences will be investigated”.

“At this time no arrests have been made,” the force said.

Hmm.

For the moment the school is standing firm. Will they stay strong, or will the headteacher be sacrificed to appease the Islamist demands, like the wretched Batley teacher?