Anti-Semites throw gas canisters at Orthodox Jews in London
Attackers shout ‘Hitler is on the way to you’ and ‘Heil Hitler’ at shoppers in retail park in north-east of capital
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter
Anti-Semites pelted three Orthodox Jews shoppers in London with gas canisters, shouting “Hitler is on the way to you” and “Heil Hitler,” London’s Evening Standard newspaper reported Thursday.
The victims were attacked at the Tottenham Hale retail park in the capital’s north east on Wednesday evening by three men in a pick-up truck, the Standard said. A spokesman for the Jewish neighborhood watch group, Shomrim (Hebrew for “Guards”), said the two men and one woman targeted were shaken but not hurt.
The canisters were thought to contain laughing gas, the paper reported. A police spokesman said the matter had been reported.
Michael Blayer, a volunteer for Shomrim, said: “This behavior is appalling, the victims were innocent shoppers…and they were targeted because they were visibly Jewish.
“The verbal abuse was disgusting, and small objects were thrown towards the victims, making them fear for their immediate safety.”
The number of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes recorded last year by police in London was 61 percent higher than in 2014, according to figures released by the Metropolitan Police in December.
The figures listed 483 anti-Semitic hate crimes documented over the 12 months that preceded Nov. 1, 2015. In the previous 12-month stretch, 299 incidents were reported.
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