Sian Killean sees street-level evidence of anti-Jewish sentiment.
Anti-Semitism returned to the streets of East London when posters across Newham promoting Holocaust Memorial Day were defaced with racist graffiti.
The posters were paint-sprayed with words such as ‘liars’ and ‘killers’. Originally sited in Stratford, West Ham and Plaistow, they were removed earlier this week by Newham borough council.
A local resident said: ‘I couldn’t believe that anyone would stoop so low as to scrawl that graffiti – not something I expected to see in London in 2015.’
Following the multiple murders carried out by jihadists in Paris earlier this month, there is widespread concern that London’s Jewish community may come under violent attack.
Instigated in the UK in 2001, Holocaust Memorial Day (27 January) is the annual, international event in commemoration of the Nazi genocide of the Jews.
Holocaust denial is not a specific crime in the UK, but the Metropolitan Police have recorded this as an ‘anti-Semitic crime’ to be investigated by the Community Safety Unit in Newham.
Sian Killean is Rising East’s Crime Co-Editor.