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/Londonderry 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.”