Police continue to investigate Hamas ‘fighter’ image despite suggestions of the image being fake

Police in Derry are continuing to investigate an image of a person dressed as a Hamas 'fighter' in the Guildhall Square area of the city on Halloween.

Police said they have received a number of reports. Previously the city's top officer suggested the image may have been fake.

However, later on Thursday evening, Chief Superintendent Nigel Goddard said a number of reports had been received and there were further images on social media.

Area Commander of Derry City & Strabane Chief Superintendent Nigel Goddard said: "We have received a number of reports of a person dressed in a uniform in the city centre of Derry / Londonderry during the Halloween festival.

"We are also aware of additional images circulating on social media. Enquiries are ongoing."

Speaking at his first meeting of the Policing Board, PSNI interim chief constable Jon Boutcher said he was aware of a suggestion it could have been generated by artificial intelligence.

“None of our police officers saw anybody in that outfit. Nobody has made a complaint to either the staff who were stewarding or security for the event, and the event took place over three or four days,” he told a meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

“There is no trace of it whatsoever, and there has been a suggestion made to me – and this will be interesting if this is the case – that it might even have been some sort of artificial intelligence image that was presented and has been circulated.

“I don’t know at the moment, I can’t give you an answer on that, but that was the suggestion last night.

“The officers were very alive to the irresponsibility and the potential criminality of somebody dressing like that.

“At the moment we can’t find any witnesses or anybody saying that someone was walking around dressed like that during the events of Halloween, so the jury is out on that.”