Two men have been arrested over a suspected terrorist plot to target the Jewish community in the Manchester area.
Counter-terrorism police said on Tuesday that they had arrested two people under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000 as part of an investigation into a suspected terrorist plot.
The two men, in their 30s, were arrested in Newton Street, in central Manchester on Sunday and taken to a London police station where they remained in custody, the Metropolitan Police said.
Officers also searched addresses in Salford and Liverpool.
Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, started at sundown on Sunday.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, senior national co-ordinator for counter-terrorism policing (CTP), said the arrests followed a long investigation in which the force has disrupted “a plot to target the Jewish community in the Manchester area.
Police realise it will cause “further concern” to the Jewish community, “especially given the significant High Holy Day period,” she said, adding that officers “are doing everything we can to keep them and the wider public safe.
Ms Evansa said her unit and local forces are working together “to provide protective security support and advice for areas with Jewish communities, and particularly during the High Holy Day period”.
Manchester Mayor Bev Craig said in a post on X that the arrests “will send a chill down the spine amongst Jewish communities” in the city.
Warning people that there would be increased police presence, she said she and her deputy, Kate Green “will do everything in our power to keep people safe, to challenge hatred and to stamp out the poison of antisemitism” in the region.
Last October, two Jewish worshippers were killed in an attack on a synagogue in Heaton Park in Manchester, carried out by a British citizen of Syrian descent who had said he was acting for Islamic State.
Jihad al Shamie, 35, drove into the gates of the synagogue, hitting a security guard, before attacking Melvin Cravitz with a knife.
Mr Cravitz was killed, as was fellow worshipper Adrian Daulby – hit by a single police bullet as he held the doors closed – to stop the terrorist getting inside.
Al Shamie, who was wearing a fake suicide vest, was shot dead as he charged at officers with the knife.
The burnt-out remains of Hatzola ambulances at the Jewish Community Ambulance Service in Golders Green, London. File pic: PA
The attack came four months after four ambulances owned by a Jewish charity in northwest London were set on fire in an arson attack that caused around £1m in damage.
Four men – Hamza Iqbal, 20, Rehan Khan, 19, Judex Atshatshi, 18, and Saif Ali – admitted destroying or damaging property by arson at the Old Bailey last month.
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