Overview
- A 25-year-old man, Daniel Nikzamir, was charged with racially and religiously aggravated assaults and criminal damage after an attack outside Beis Gavriel synagogue and pleaded not guilty at Willesden Magistrates’ Court.
- Worshippers restrained the attacker during the incident on Thursday night while dozens were gathered for the Jewish festival of Shavuot and two Jewish men were reported to have suffered cuts and bruises.
- The Metropolitan Police said officers arrived within ten minutes of the emergency call and that members of the public detained the suspect before he was arrested.
- Police figures show more than 90 hate-crime arrests since late March, about 70 of them for antisemitic offences, and investigators from Counter Terrorism Policing are examining possible wider links.
- The defendant is due at Harrow Crown Court in June as community groups and political leaders press for stronger protection and scrutiny of online and external influences tied to the surge in attacks.