London, July 6 (IANS) A man, who paraded in London with an Islamic State (IS) flag wrapped around him, was found not guilty of breaking any law, police said.
Some images were posted on a Korean forum after a tourist spotted a man walking outside Parliament Square on Saturday with an IS flag draped around him.
The man carried a little girl on his shoulders, who was also waving a smaller IS flag, as he mingled with hundreds of tourists around central London, Mirror online reported on Monday.
Metropolitan Police said the man was stopped by officers but they could not do anything because he was not breaking the law.
“This man was spoken to by officers with consideration given to relevant legislation and a decision was taken by officers at the time that the man was acting within the law. He was not arrested,” a police spokesman said.
“Wearing, carrying or displaying of an emblem or flag, by itself, is not an offence unless the way in which, or the circumstance in which, the emblem is worn, carried or displayed is such as to cause reasonable suspicion that the person is a supporter or member of a proscribed organisation,” he added.
“While support and membership of IS are unlawful it is not a criminal offence to advocate the creation of an independent state.”
The incident came a week after an IS terrorist gunned down 30 Britons on a Tunisian beach and a few days before London commemorates the 52 people killed in the July 7, 2005, London bombings.