A neighborhood watch group said the red triangular warning sign, featuring a silhouetted image of a man in Orthodox Jewish clothing and hat, was attached to a lamppost near a synagogue.
By REUTERS"Artwork" of Haredi Jew in London(photo credit: SHOMRIM)
A "Beware of Jews" street sign that appeared in Stamford Hill, a London area home to a large Orthodox Jewish community, has been branded as "disgusting" and "despicable" by local lawmakers.A neighborhood watch group said the red triangular warning sign, featuring a silhouetted image of a man in Orthodox Jewish clothing and hat, was attached to a lamppost near a synagogue."Disgusting. Unacceptable," British Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott wrote on Twitter."Despicable, nasty behavior that has absolutely no place in our community," tweeted another Labour lawmaker from a nearby London area, David Lammy.Municipal authority Hackney Council said on Wednesday it had not found the sign, which was one of a number of fake warnings in the area, and believed it had already been removed.It surfaced as a wave of far-right political parties have been gaining support in election campaigns across Europe.Dutch firebrand politician Geert Wilders hoped to gain ground with his anti-immigration stance on Wednesday in the first of three polls within the European Union this year where nationalist parties are riding a wave of support.Stamford Hill is home to Europe's largest Haredi community of strictly Orthodox Jews, with an estimated 30,000 living in the area. It has been targeted by far-right supporters in the past and police figures show an increase of more than 60 percent in anti-Semitic incidents in London last year.Last month, the Community Security Trust, which advises Britain's estimated 260,000 Jews on security matters, said it had recorded a record 1,309 incidents across the country in 2016, the highest number since it began collecting figures 33 years ago.