Man begins his Boxing Day in police van after shouting antisemitic abuse at Shomrim
A London man has begun his Boxing Day with a trip in a police van after shouting antisemitic abuse at a volunteer from Stamford Hill Shomrim. The incident began when a routine Shomrim patrol spotted a drunk man walking into the road. Concerned for his safety, the volunteers succeeding in convincing him to return to the pavement, however the man then allegedly became irate, swearing in Polish and shouting about Hitler and Auschwitz before telling the Shomrim volunteers to “F*** off”. The Shomrim team called the Metropolitan Police Service, and the man was arrested by officers from Hackney.
Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol, sends its volunteers on patrols around neighbourhoods where crime is common, resulting in drastic reductions in everything from burglary to car crime to assault. Sadly, Shomrim are finding that a growing number of incidents relate to antisemitic abuse of London’s ultra-orthodox Charedi community.
In 2016, Shomrim volunteers have repeatedly caught antisemitic criminals red handed, and acted to ensure that they were arrested. Shomrim volunteers do not simply alert the police to antisemitic criminals; they also provide statements and regularly give evidence in court. Consequently a large proportion of the pitifully small number of convictions for antisemitic hate crime each year are the result of Shomrim’s work.
We had hoped that the incident reported by Shomrim on Christmas Day might be the last antisemitic incident they would encounter in 2016, but this man had other plans. We commend Shomrim for their incredible work both for the local Jewish community and all residents of the areas in which they operate.
#Shomrim observed a male shouting anti-Semitic abuse on Clapton Common E5. Suspect arrested by @MPSHackney pic.twitter.com/yJSsCV4R5O
— Shomrim (Stamford Hill) (@Shomrim) December 26, 2016