A SENIOR PSNI officer in Derry says he believes a picture on social media of a masked man dressed in Hamas combat clothing is a “fake”.
The photo was claimed to have been taken of the man walking through the Guildhall Square area during the city’s Halloween festivities.
In a statement today, Derry and Strabane police commander Chief Superintendent Nigel Goddard said: “We have made a number of enquiries in relation to an image on social media purporting to show a person in Guildhall Square in Derry dressed in a uniform with ‘HAMAS’ spelt on the picture.
“These enquiries to establish if the image is genuine have included a public appeal and a check of city centre CCTV.
“As of today, Thursday 2 November, we have not had any reports of anyone seeing this person in Guildhall Square dressed in this way, or found any other images online.
“At this time, and while I remain open-minded, with the checks we have conducted, with no other sightings reported to us from members of the public, or from police officers on duty reporting seeing this person, I believe this is a fake image.
“Whatever the intention of this image was, it serves as a timely reminder that not everything online is as it seems.”
Tags: