Two Jewish shopkeepers were “viciously” assaulted outside a London bakery by a lone attacker on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, leading to one arrest being made.
On the 26th of January 2022 at 9:51 pm, two orthodox Jewish men were attacked by a masked man who, unprovoked, began punching them in the head multiple times outside their shop on Cadoxton Avenue in North London. The Home Secretary has condemned the attack and one arrest has been made.
The footage released by the London neighbourhood Shomrim neighbourhood watch shows the attacker initially walking past the pair as they were locking up their shop before running back and beating them down the road, knocking one of the men over multiple times.
After the attack, the masked man calmly walks off and kicks a kippah he punched off one of the victims’ heads across the floor as he passes it on the street.
The male attacker appears to be wearing a full-face covering and was dressed in tracksuits and a ‘puffer’ jacket.
Shomrim, a community safety project who specialise in tackling hate crime against Jewish people and work closely with the Metropolitan police, report that one of the victims was left with a broken nose, a fractured wrist and bad bruising, and the second victim had an eye injury and bruising – both men were taken to a North London hospital in an ambulance.
An 18-year-old male has been arrested by the Metropolitan Police following the attack on suspicion of actual bodily harm and is being held in custody. The Met has also said they are treating the incident as a hate crime.
Shomrim claims they were able to locate the suspect for the police through local CCTV.
The British Home Secretary Priti Patel branded the attack as “despicable”, and thanked the officers for their “swift” response and arrest.
“This on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, is a sickening reminder of why we must never allow antisemitism to take root. We won’t tolerate abuse towards our Jewish community”, Patel said.
In a press statement after the attack, Chief Superintendent Simon Crick of the Metropolitan Police thanked “members of the public” who helped the police “locate a suspect”.
Crick also said: “On this most important day, this is an awful reminder that hate crime still exists. I know that Haringey residents will be upset by such a horrible attack and we won’t stand for anyone in our community being targeted or hurt”.
“If you assault someone, you can expect us to do everything we can to investigate and find you”, Crick continued.
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