Police investigating east London house fire as possible antisemitic hate crime

The London Metropolitan Police is examining the possibility that a house fire in east London on Wednesday was an antisemitic hate crime, The Guardian reports.

A man in his 60s was detained near the scene of the Hackney house fire, which was wrestled under control by 60 firefighters, and has been arrested on suspicion of committing arson with an intent to endanger life, the report says.

During the arrest, police said the suspect made “a number of threatening comments, some of which were allegedly antisemitic,” but did not expand further on what had been said.

The police cautioned, however, that “while the investigation will continue to explore the motivation for this offense, we believe at this stage that this was centralized on a local housing-related issue.”

The police added that it has a “robust” plan to protect Hackney’s Jewish community and those in the surrounding area during the Jewish holiday of Purim this weekend, The Guardian adds.

Police have launched an investigation into a house fire in hackney & are examining whether it was an antisemitic hate crime.

The Met Police said a man in his 60s arrested near the scene of the fire made threatening and “allegedly antisemitic” comments when detained.… pic.twitter.com/0TrrJtIgeJ

— London & UK Street News (@CrimeLdn) March 21, 2024