Anti-Semitic incidents almost doubled last year in Hackney, the area of north-east London which is home to Britain’s largest haredi community, according to police figures reported by the Jewish Chronicle (The JC).
In the year from November 2014 to November 2015, there were 122 reports of such incidents in Hackney. This means that on average, there was one reported incident, every three days.
The numbers are 88% higher than the previous year, which saw 65 reported cases.
In all of London, the Metropolitan Police reported a total of 483 anti-Semitic crimes, up from 299 incidents the year before. Hotspots included Westminster where there was a 178 percent increase, Tower Hamlets which had a 100 percent rise and Lambeth which had a 200 percent increase, as well as Hackney.
Rabbi Herschel Gluck, president of the Stamford Hill branch of Shomrim, the community’s volunteer security group, told The JC that the steep rise showed “the depth and persistence of this grave problem” and the urgent need to deal with it.
Hackney police said Shomrim had “played a huge part” in assisting officers in tackling anti-Semitism in the area.
In north-west London, Shomrim’s telephone hotline received almost ten calls per average day in 2015, for a total of over 3,200 calls.
Meanwhile, three men have been arrested and released on bail after they allegedly taunted Jewish shoppers in at Tottenham Hale retail park in north London Wednesday. They reportedly pelted the Jews with small gas canisters and shouted “Hitler is on the way.”
The suspects were in a pick-up vehicle.
Shomrim said one of the victims had contacted them and claimed a man in the vehicle also shouted “Heil Hitler”, according to reports.
Scotland Yard said three men, aged 24, 22 and 18, had been arrested on suspicion of a religiously aggravated public order offense and bailed to a date in late February. They had handed themselves in to police.
