Attack on Jewish community ambulances in London: three new arrests, searches underway

Three additional people were arrested on Wednesday in the investigation led by counter-terrorism police into the attack on Jewish community ambulances on March 23 in London, the Metropolitan Police announced on Wednesday (April 1).

Four ambulances from the Jewish organization Hatzola, which runs a voluntary emergency service, were set on fire last week overnight, without causing any injuries, in the Golders Green district of northwest London, where there is a large Jewish community.

Police said on Wednesday they had arrested three men aged 17, 19 and 20, at three different addresses in east London. Searches are underway at these addresses, she added in a press release.

Claim video examined

Two of them are British nationals and the third is a British-Pakistani, she said. Two other men have already been arrested in connection with the investigation and released on bail.

Police are treating the attack as “an anti-Semitic hate crime” but have not labeled it “terrorist” at this stage, although counterterrorism police investigators investigating a video claim from the until recently unknown Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (Hiya) group, possibly linked to Iran, are examining it.

This same group has claimed responsibility for other attacks against the Jewish community in Belgium and the Netherlands, and the French anti-terrorism prosecution raised the possible link between Hiya and the attempted attack foiled on Saturday against the Paris headquarters of Bank of America.

Since the Golders Green attack, police have said they have increased security at places linked to the Jewish community across London.