6m ago
10.00 BST
This is
an image of the Manchester synagogue attacker, Jihad al-Shamie, who was shot
dead by armed police on Thursday morning.
It was
taken from Facebook after being posted by his father, Faraj al-Shamie, on 23
October last year to welcome the birth of his grandson.
Image
posted on Facebook by Faraj al-Shamie - the father of the Manchester synagogue
attacker, Jihad al-Shamie, on October 23, 2024.
View
image in fullscreen
Image
posted on Facebook by Faraj al-Shamie - the father of the Manchester synagogue
attacker, Jihad al-Shamie, on October 23, 2024. Photograph: Facebook
12m ago
09.53 BST
A
pro-Palestine protest planned for Saturday in London should be cancelled
following the terror attack in Manchester, the Metropolitan Police has
insisted.
A
statement from the Met published on social media site X on Friday morning said:
The
horrific terrorist attack that took place in Manchester yesterday will have
caused significant fear and concern in communities across the UK, including
here in London.
Yet at a
time when we want to be deploying every available officer to ensure the safety
of those communities, we are instead having to plan for a gathering of more
than 1,000 people in Trafalgar Square on Saturday in support of a terrorist
organisation.
By
choosing to encourage mass law-breaking on this scale, Defend Our Juries are
drawing resources away from the communities of London at a time when they are
needed most.
We urge
them to do the responsible thing and delay or cancel their plans.
26m ago
09.39 BST
Neighbours
of the synagogue killer said he had lived there since around 2021, and one
neighbour remembered a baby also living at the address but could not recall
seeing a woman living there.
One woman
told PA Media:
We used
to see him out in the garden working out, doing weights, press ups.
He used
to change his clothes. One day he would be wearing the full gown, to the floor
and the next jeans and pyjama bottoms.
Another
neighbour described how armed police arrived at the house around 3.15pm on
Thursday.
A man,
who would only give his name as Mike, 35, said he was visiting his mother’s
house and was at the window and looked up to see police arrived.
He said:
There was
a whole load of armed police coming up the street, they were all in black, they
were all in vans and a big marked police car blocked the street.
They went
to the house and started screaming, ‘Armed police! Come out!’ They had a chain
saw. They left after about an hour.
Mike said
he did not see anyone taken away and did not personally know Al-Shamie.
32m ago
09.34 BST
Josh
Halliday
Josh
Halliday
Armed
counter-terror officer swooped on the attacker’s semi-detached property shortly
before 4.30pm yesterday, around seven hours after the attack at a synagogue
about two miles away.
Footage
shared by neighbours shows heavily armed officers in military fatigues
preparing to raid the house with a chainsaw and a police dog. One officer
carried two bulletproof shields.
“They
just came up the street shouting and screaming,” said one neighbour, Mike, who
only wanted to give his first name. “They shouted ‘Get down’ … they were there
for ages.”
Another
neighbour, Paul Wright, 60, said he feared an anti-Jewish attack was imminent
given the raised tensions over the Gaza conflict.
“It
doesn’t surprise me. I suppose if you think you’re mandated by God to do that
it’s a great force multiplier,” he said.
38m ago
09.28 BST
Israel’s
president, Isaac Herzog, has said Thursday was a “horrific day” for the Jewish
community in Britain, Britain at large, and the Jewish community throughout the
world.
“It’s a
shocking reminder of what we’ve been alerting on for quite some time, that this
heatwave of antisemitism and anti-Jewish feelings all over the world at the end
reaches bloodshed,” he told LBC.
The
Israeli president visited the UK last month and held what he described as a
“tough” set of exchanges over humanitarian aid in Gaza with Keir Starmer in
Downing Street. There were street protests during his visit demanding that he
be arrested as a war criminal.
This
morning, Herzog said what happened at the synagogue in Crumpsall was a “true
horror” and said “very strong steps” are required in pre-empting “this horrific
wave of terror and antisemitism”.
47m ago
09.19 BST
Residents
in Langley Crescent said Jihad al-Shamie had lived there since around 2021, and
one neighbour remembered a baby also living at the address but could not recall
seeing a woman living there.
Another
neighbour described how armed police arrived at the house around 3.15pm on
Thursday.
Press
Association said the man, who would only give his name as Mike, 35, said he was
visiting his mother’s house and was at the window and looked up to see police
arrive. He said:
There was
a whole load of armed police coming up the street, they were all in black, they
were all in vans and a big marked police car blocked the street.
They went
to the house and started screaming, ‘Armed police! Come out!’ They had a
chainsaw. They left after about an hour.”
Mike said
he did not see anyone taken away and did not personally know Al-Shamie.
1h ago
08.56 BST
Flags in
the House of Commons have been lowered for the victims of the attack.
Sir
Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, agreed for the flags to be lowered until
8pm on Friday.
1h ago
08.49 BST
Here are
some of the latest images from Langley Crescent, the street where, according to
PA Media, police believe the attacker lived.
Updated
at
08.51 BST
2h ago
08.36 BST
Yesterday,
police named the attacker as Jihad al-Shamie, 35, a British citizen of Syrian
descent.
Asked
about his name, on LBC, Mahmood says:
I was
very surprised to discover that name myself. Actually, as a Muslim, I’ve never
heard someone being called Jihad, but it is the name that he was born with -
that has always been his name.
PA Media
reports that a police officer is standing guard restricting entrance to Langley
Crescent, where Al-Shamie is believed to have lived in the three-bed
end-terrace council property.
Dozens of
reporters are also camped in the street outside as more police arrive in a van
at the property in Prestwich, a couple of miles from the synagogue in
Crumpsall.
Updated
at
08.41 BST
2h ago
08.28 BST
We’ve got
a bit more from the chief rabbi, who said so many people in the Jewish
community “and well beyond it” wonder why marches in support of Palestine
Action are allowed to take place.
He told
BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
Some of
them contain outright antisemitism, outright support for Hamas. Not every
single person, however there is so much of this, which certainly is dangerous
to many within our society.
You
cannot separate the words on our streets, the actions of people in this way,
and what inevitably results, which was yesterday’s terrorist attack.
The two
are directly linked and therefore we call on the government yet again, we’ve
been doing so continuously, and yet again we say get a grip on these
demonstrations, they are dangerous.
2h ago
08.23 BST
Chief
rabbi criticises 'unrelenting wave of hatred against Jews'
Chief
rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said this is a “very dark time” ahead of visiting
Manchester, as he referred to an “unrelenting wave of hatred against Jews”.
Speaking
to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said:
Right
now, our hearts are shattered. What transpired yesterday was an awful blow to
us, something which actually we were fearing might happen because of the build
up to this action.
I’m going
to be arriving in Manchester early this morning, together with my wife, in
order to be with a grieving community, and this is a very dark time, not just
for Jews of Britain but for all of our society because this wasn’t merely an
attack against Jews, it was an attack against the values of our society.
The chief
rabbi added:
We have
witnessed an unrelenting wave of hatred against Jews being expressed on our
streets, on campuses, right across social media and some of the media.
And in
addition to that, when there is the unjustified demonisation of Israel, that
feeds directly into an anti-Jewish sentiment within the tone of Britain, and
that then encourages extremism.
Our
government needs to be mindful of that.
2h ago
08.19 BST
As my
colleague Chris Osuh has reported, feelings of safety in the UK’s Jewish
community have declined sharply in the last couple of years, according to the
largest survey of British Jews since 7 October 2023.
Speaking
to LBC, the home secretary says antisemitism has been “rising” in the UK.
Asked
about comments made by Israel foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar that the UK
government is failing to curb “rampant antisemitic and anti-Israeli incitement
in Britain”, she said:
Myself
and the prime minister both acknowledge that antisemitism in our country has
been rising.
It is
completely unacceptable, and we both condemn it utterly. We will not stand for
it.
We have
strong laws in our country against incitement to racial hatred.
2h ago
08.12 BST
Too early
to say if terrorist cell behind the attack, home secretary says
Mahmood’s
next stop is BBC Breakfast. She is asked if a terrorist cell is behind the
attack.
It’s too
early to say that yet. Arrests have been made and the police investigation is
continuing at pace.
We will,
of course, provide more information as that comes in from the police, but I
think it’s important we don’t get ahead of what we know as the basic facts of
what has happened.
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