Former nurse who previously described NHS as the “new Auschwitz” is under investigation after comparing NHS workers to Nazis
A former nurse who had reportedly described the NHS as the “new Auschwitz” last year is now under investigation after comparing NHS workers to Nazis at an anti-vaccination rally on Saturday.
Kate Shemirani was removed from the nursing register after she was suspended as a registered nurse for eighteen months last July, pending an investigation into her past alleged comments on COVID-19 and 5G conspiracy theories.
However, it was reportedly decided last month by the NMC Fitness to Practise Committee that she would be permanently struck off from the register. Ms Shemrani can appeal this ruling in five years. In the meantime, however, she will be unable to practice as a registered nurse.
Ms Shemirani, a leading figure in the anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination movement, spoke at a rally on Saturday in which she allegedly called for the names of NHS workers before comparing them to Nazis, saying: “At the Nuremberg trials, the doctors and nurses stood trial and they hung.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan condemned the comments on Twitter, writing: “This is utterly appalling, and I have raised it directly with the Met Police. Our NHS staff are the heroes of this pandemic and Londoners from across this city roundly reject this hate.”
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police stated: “We are aware of [a] video circulating online showing a speech that occurred during a rally in Trafalgar Square on Saturday 24th July. Officers are carrying out enquiries to establish whether any offences have been committed. No arrests have been made.”
Ms Shemirani’s comments have also been condemned by both the Prime Minister and the Labour Party Leader, Sir Keir Starmer.
A spokesperson for Boris Johnson said: “The Prime Minister absolutely condemns those comments. Doctors and nurses have done a truly heroic job throughout this pandemic and continue to do so. Any violence, threats or intimidation is completely unacceptable,” while Sir Keir reportedly told the radio channel LBC that “some of the things that are said and done, in the names of some of these protests, I think are an affront to all of us that believe in everything the NHS and the frontline are doing.”
Last year, Ms Shemirani led protests against mask-wearing and lockdown restrictions, defending her use of comparisons to Auschwitz and Nazis. Ms Shemirani said at the time: “When I likened this to Auschwitz and the cattle trucks – you tell me the difference? Because the only time in history I could find where the doctors and nurses were able to end people’s lives was the nurses of the Third Reich. The nurses of the Third Reich are here today. I don’t care if they find it offensive. I find it offensive that our elderly have been murdered in care homes. Stop being a special snowflake and saying you’re offended. They are killing our elderly, our most vulnerable.”
It has also been reported that Ms Shemrani is a follower of the “Committee of 300” conspiracy theory, which over a century ago laid the foundations for the antisemitic fabrication, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Ms Shemirani said: “Can I state the obvious. There is no COVID-19. It’s a scam. There is however contaminated vaccines, contaminated tests and a lovely direct energy weapon system being primed to activate those nano particles you have injected, ingested and inhaled.”
She has also claimed: “Without the help of the doctors and nurses, the extermination of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, blacks, disabled… in the Holocaust could not have been executed…”
According to the JC, Ms Shemirani has also made frequent reference to the Jewish financier, philanthropist and controversial political activist, George Soros, who is often the target of antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination networks have become known as hotbeds of antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes.