Police in London arrested a suspect believed to be connected to a series of unprovoked assaults on Jews in the Stamford Hill neighborhood in Hackney, London.
The man, aged 28, was arrested Thursday and remains in police custody.
The five assaults he is accused of all took place on Wednesday, August 18.
He had first assaulted a 30-year-old man by hitting him in the head with a bottle at around 6:40 p.m. GST. Half an hour later, he reportedly assaulted a 14-year-old boy without warning.
An hour and a half later, at around 8:30 p.m., he reportedly struck a 64-year-old man in the face, who fell to the ground suffering injuries to his face and breaking a bone in his foot. This particular assault was the most severe and CCTV footage was shared on social media by the Stamford HIll Shomrim.
#HateCrime #Antisemitism #StamfordHill 18/8 8:30pmShocking footage of a vicious #Racist attack, the unconscious victim, was rushed to hospital with broken foot/ankle & nasty head injuries @MPSHackney specialist #HateCrime officers are keen to speak to this male4492 20/08/21 pic.twitter.com/GWtip256E0
— Shomrim (Stamford Hill) (@Shomrim) August 20, 2021
Police know of a fourth and fifth victim, though they have yet to speak to law enforcement.
The arrest was lauded by the Stamford Hill Shomrim, who had been working with the police in analyzing CCTV footage and supporting the victims.
❗#ARRESTED❗#HateCrime #AntisemitismFollowing a complex investigation @MPSHackney #CID have made an #ArrestThanks to the tireless efforts by our dedicated @Shomrim volunteers who worked hard assisting @MetPoliceuk with the investigation, #CCTV & supporting the victims https://t.co/CB85AoiKdR
— Shomrim (Stamford Hill) (@Shomrim) September 2, 2021
This is not the first recent assault to happen in Stamford Hill, which has the highest concentration of hassidic Jews in the UK.
The assaults are part of a major increase in the number of antisemitic incidents recorded in the United Kingdom this year by CST.
In the first half of 2021, CST recorded the highest-ever number of antisemitic incidents in any six-month period since it began monitoring the issue in the 1980s. The tally for January-June in 2021 was 1,308 incidents, compared to 875 in the corresponding period the previous year. The total for 2020 was 1,668 incidents.
The spike in incidents is partially connected to the exchange of fire between Hamas and Israel in May, CST said. More than 600 of the 1,308 incidents recorded in the first half of 2021 occurred in May.
Cnaan Lipshiz/JTA contributed to this report.