Metropolitan Police Create 100-Officer Community Protection Team To Protect London’s Jewish Communities

Britain’s Metropolitan Police announced on Wednesday the creation of a new community protection team of 100 officers, including counter-terrorism specialists, to help protect Jewish communities across London after a series of antisemitic attacks. The plan was described as a response to “a rise in antisemitic attacks, arson incidents and stabbings in London,” and it came as police said they were investigating possible links between arson incidents and hostile foreign actors including Iran. London’s top police boss Mark Rowley said Jewish communities were facing “sustained threats” from hostile state actors as well as extreme right-wing groups, elements of the extreme left and Islamist terrorists. The Metropolitan Police said the unit would be “primarily focused on protecting the Jewish community,” which it described as facing “significant terrorist and hostile state threats.”

Police said the recent incidents included the stabbing of two men and arson attacks since late March, including “four Jewish ambulances burned and synagogues targeted,” with both stabbed victims surviving. Investigators also disclosed the detention of a 35-year-old man on Saturday after rocks were thrown at an ambulance belonging to the Jewish community, and they said detectives were examining whether the arson incidents had possible Iranian links. Over the past four weeks, police said they had arrested around 50 people for antisemitic hate crimes and charged eight individuals, and they said 28 arrests had been made in investigations alongside counter terrorism policing for arson and other serious incidents. In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said, “This new team will be primarily focused on protecting the Jewish community,” and it added that the force was working with the government and London mayor’s office to ensure long-term support for the initiative.

The Metropolitan Police announcement tied the new unit to government funding, with the force saying it followed a £25 million government funding package for protective policing and that £18 million was allocated to the Metropolitan Police. The Home Office backed the Met’s action with £18 million, and a further £4 million was said to be made available through the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant to support community-led and charity work. England and Wales chief prosecutor Stephen Parkinson issued guidance to fast-track hate crime prosecutions, and he said he hoped to “put a line in the sand” and stop an “uptick” in antisemitic behaviour. Prime Minister Keir Starmer also said the government was “fast-tracking legislation to tackle these malign threats,” adding that “One of the lines of inquiry is whether a foreign state has been behind some of these incidents.”