Spate of anti-Semitic attacks hits London over weekend
Scotland Yard assisting local authorities in search for perpetrators of 3 hate crimes directed at Jews in Edgware area
British police have opened investigations into a string of attacks against the Jewish community in north London over the weekend.
A volunteer neighborhood watch program told the Jewish Press news site that three separate hate crimes targeting “recognizably Jewish” residents of the Edgware district took place between late Friday and Saturday.
According to Shomrim North West London, the neighborhood watch group, on Friday night one family was pelted with eggs by unidentified assailants in a passing car.
On Saturday morning, a brick daubed with swastikas and other anti-Semitic slurs was hurled though a window of local Jewish family’s home.
Later that day, police discovered a swastika graffitied next to the words “Heil Hitler” and “F*** Jews” on a residential building in the nearby suburb of Mill Hill.
Pictures of the brick which was thrown threw a window at a Jewish residential address in HA8. #Antisemitism #stophatecrime pic.twitter.com/AAeV9ZV5r6
— Shomrim (North West London) (@shomrimlondon) January 22, 2017
According to British news reports, Scotland Yard was assisting the Barnet police in the investigation into the incidents.
Investigators have been combing though surveillance video footage in an effort to identify perpetrators, and local police have vowed to step up patrols in north London’s predominantly Jewish neighborhoods.
“Whilst there is no evidence at this stage to suggest that these offenses are linked, it is of great concern that members of our local community are being targeted in this way,” Barnet Police Inspector Justin Zitver told the Standard.
3rd #antisemitic attack in #barnet in 24 hrs reported to #Shomrim
Brick & swastikas thrown through window at residential address in Edgware pic.twitter.com/MwDyXZz1C8— Shomrim (North West London) (@shomrimlondon) January 21, 2017
Shomrim CEO Gary Ost said members of Shomrim North London were working closely with the police investigations.
“These cowardly antisemitic attacks targeted Jews when they were asleep in their homes or walking with their families after dinner,” Ost said, urging witnesses to come forward to police.
“These attacks are intended to instill fear in London’s Jews,” he added.
“Antisemitic crime is on the rise and these cowardly attacks must lead to arrests and convictions,” said Stephen Silverman, director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism. “Jewish families in our capital should not be living in fear of antisemitic attacks.”
