A man has been arrested after three Jewish women, one of them pushing a baby in a stroller, were assaulted in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Stamford Hill in north-east London on Monday afternoon.
Police were called to Upper Clapton Road, in the Clapton Common area of Hackney, at about 1:40 p.m. local time. By the time officers arrived, volunteers from Shomrim, the Jewish neighborhood watch group, had already detained a suspect. Officers then arrested the 33-year-old man on suspicion of racially aggravated common assault.
A video widely shared online appears to show one of the attacks. Some British outlets reported that at least one woman was punched in the face. According to Shomrim, the victims said they were attacked because they were Jewish, and the attacker appeared to target only Jewish women. The women are understood to have sustained minor injuries.
The Metropolitan Police said it is treating the incident as a suspected antisemitic hate crime. The suspect has also been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm in connection with a separate incident in Islington on Friday. He remains in custody.
Chief Inspector Erica Crawshaw called it “an alarming and distressing incident” and thanked the Shomrim volunteers for detaining the suspect. “We recognise the concern that this incident will have caused the Jewish community here in Hackney,” she said. “We have increased patrols in the area and we are speaking to community leaders to provide further reassurance.”
Police have appealed for anyone with information, or anyone else who believes they may have been assaulted, to come forward.
