A knife-wielding 61-year-old man has been arrested in North London, after apparently threatening Jewish individuals in the Stamford Hill area.
Reports suggest the man had been deliberately targeting Jewish individuals in the incident, in which there were no injuries. There were a number of road closures as the police brought the situation to a close. It is reported the police operation in the area lasted up to an hour, and the man was arrested at a nearby address.
The area, Stamford Hill, is known for having a large Orthodox Jewish community.
A statement from the Metropolitan Police confirmed the arrest had taken place. The force said:
“A 61-year-old man has been arrested by police in Hackney.
“Police were called at 16:06hrs on Tuesday, 9 May, to a man armed with two knives who had threatened a shopkeeper in Upper Clapton Road, E5.
“Officers attended the location, and detained a man nearby at an address in Rossington Street.
“He was arrested on suspicion of affray and possession of an offensive weapon, and taken to a north London police station where he remains in custody.
“There are no reports of any injuries.”
The North East London Shomrim, a volunteer community security force common to Jewish communities worldwide, used their Twitter account to communicate about the attack, claiming the man told a girl “you Jews run away from here before I kill you”.
An image tweeted by the Shomrim, which claimed to be of the assailant, showed the man holding two knives.
There has been a surge in anti-Semitic hate crime in Britain, with an average of more than three incidents in the country every day. The majority of those recorded relate to verbal abuse, hate mail, and graffiti, according to reports.