'It was clearly a mistake... It's not really a story,' Ashok Kumar told GB News
Zack Polanski "didn't consciously choose" to share an image of a man wearing a t-shirt that called for the decapitation of Nigel Farage, a Green activist has claimed.
Dr Ashok Kumar told GB News last night it was "obvious" that Mr Polanski's post was "clearly a mistake".
"Obviously, Zack didn't choose to consciously do this," Dr Kumar said. "It was a post of 20 images. It's clearly a mistake... He immediately [took it down] when it was identified."
The Green Party boss had "collaborated" on the post with multiple Instagram users - meaning it appeared on his profile the same way any other photo would.
His more than 700,000 followers were treated to an image of a man in a black t-shirt emblazoned with the words: "We're only making plans for Nigel," alongside a guillotine.
"Sometimes there's many images," Dr Kumar, also an associate professor of Political Economy at Birkbeck University, said.
"You see the first few images... You just accept it, assuming it's going to be okay."
"It was clearly a mistake," he said again. "He corrected it as soon as it was done. It's not really a story."
Dr Kumar then asked: "Why would he do this? Who is this speaking to? Which composition of people that don't already support the Green Party will now support the Green Party because they see a guillotine photo... in a collage of 20 images? What would the political rationale be? Why would he do this?"
Mr Farage and others issued stern warnings of double standards last night, with the Reform leader saying that if he were to post "anything as inciteful", he would expect to be arrested "and so should Polanski".
The party's home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said: "If a council candidate for Reform posted a threat to kill a left wing politician it would lead every news cycle in the country for days."
Even Tory peer Lord Goldsmith said if Mr Farage posted "this sort of thing about Polanski, the shrieking would be deafening and the police would already be knocking on his door".
His House of Lords colleague Lord Hannan, however, branded the row "very disappointing".
"We are defining incitement in ludicrously broad terms. It should not cover tasteless online posts. Being a bit of a d**k is not a criminal offence," he said.
Reform UK went on to confirm to GB News that Mr Polanski had been reported to the Metropolitan Police.
The Met said it had 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 enquiries into the matter," a spokesman added.
Alex Wilson, Reform's leader at City Hall - where Mr Polanski also sits - will be reporting the Greens chief to the London Assembly's Monitoring Officer, GB News understands.
A Green Party spokesman previously said: "After attending a public event, Zack accepted a request to collaborate on a post with several images.
"Once this image was brought to his attention he immediately unshared the post.
"He unequivocally does not support this type of dangerous message."
