Witnesses sought over antisemitic violence and verbal abuse targeting elderly man and young boys in St Johns Wood
Witness are being sought over two antisemitic attacks by the same perpetrator on Saturday 4th May as Jews returned home from synagogue in St John’s Wood, in London.
The first attack took place at approximately 12:10 directly outside St John’s Wood Synagogue on Grove End Road. Two men, one of them elderly and walking very slowly with a stick, were accosted by a man walking in the opposite direction. As he approached them, he turned and said “You f***ing Jews”, following up with a torrent of antisemitic abuse. The Jewish men were concerned that their abuser might become violent, so they walked away, at which point the younger Jewish man was kicked hard from behind. He called for security from the synagogue who spoke to the abuser, who they think they might have seen before in the area, whilst the Jewish men walked away.
Approximately five minutes later, the same man perpetrated a second attack, this time on Hall Road against a Jewish father walking home with his two young sons. The man chased after the family, shouting: “You’re scum! You’re all scum! Your people are scum! Disgusting people. F*** you! F*** your sons!” The father, concerned for his children grabbed their hands and crossed the road, but the man followed them, shouting: “Take that revolting thing off your head!” The father instructed his children to run home ahead of him as fast as they could.
The assailant then became distracted by the driver of a white saloon car that was waiting at the traffic lights on Hall Road, giving the father time to catch up with his children and run home with them.
The perpetrator of both attacks has been described to Campaign Against Antisemitism as a lean black man aged around 30 and 191 centimetres (6 feet and 3 inches) tall. At the time of the attacks, he was attired in a track suit with a red and grey top, and a black baseball cap emblazoned with the logo of the Los Angeles Raiders in white outline.
These attacks were committed in broad daylight against people walking with very young children and an elderly man. The perpetrator was violent and persistently abusive, in each case continuing his abuse while his victims tried to get away from him. It is important that he is brought to justice.
Anybody with information about the man described should call the police by dialling 101 and citing crime number 6531054/19, or e-mail Campaign Against Antisemitism at [email protected]. It would be especially helpful to hear from anyone who thinks that they may have seen this man before, was walking or driving in the area, or may have a CCTV system that may have recorded the roads between Grove End Road and Hall Road that afternoon.
