One year after a deadly Yom Kippur attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester in the United Kingdom, police arrested two men suspected of planning a terror attack targeting the Manchester Jewish community.
The men, both in their 20s, were arrested on Newton Street on Sunday “on suspicion of offenses under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000,” according to the Metropolitan Police. “The investigation relates to a suspected terrorist plot to target the Jewish community in the Manchester area.”
Vicki Evans, deputy assistant commissioner and senior national coordinator for counter terrorism policing, stated that “this has been a long-running proactive investigation which has led to the disruption of what we believe to be a plot to target the Jewish community in the Manchester area.”
“We are acutely aware this news will cause further concern to the Jewish community, as well as the wider public, especially given the significant High Holiday period,” Evans stated. “I want to reassure them we are working incredibly closely with colleagues in Greater Manchester Police and partners to ensure we’re doing everything we can to keep them and the wider public safe.”
The Community Security Trust called the news “utterly chilling, coming so close to the anniversary of the terrorist attack at Heaton Park Synagogue last year.”
The arrests are “another reminder of the serious terrorist threat facing Jewish communities in this current time,” the trust stated.
Manchester Mayor Bev Craig and Deputy Mayor Kate Green released a joint statement, in which they said that they “know this will send a chill down the spine amongst Jewish communities in Greater Manchester, one year on from the evil antisemitic terrorist attack that took place on Yom Kippur, and at the holiest time in the calendar.”
“Officers will be stepping up visible patrols to provide security and reassurance and to engage with members of the public,” they stated.
The Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and Region stated that “security can only ever deal with the symptoms” and called on the government to “redouble its efforts to tackle the root causes of the hatred and extremism that are espoused in places of worship and other community spaces that continue to motivate people to target Jews.”
