Some of the anti-CST posters were daubed on a wall with posters of the hostages[Missing Credit]
The campaign follows the arrests of five Jewish teenagers, aged 14 to 18, during Purim celebrations last Thursday. The boys, four of whom attend Hasmonean Boys School, were arrested in connection with alleged offences, including assaulting an emergency services worker, failing to comply with a dispersal order and public order offences.
According to witnesses, 150 to 200 people were part of a drunken crowd when police ordered them to disperse. Around 20 remained, described by one community member as a “baying mob”.
The arrested teens spent the night in custody, where a local representative said they had no access to kosher food or tefillin. They were released on bail last Friday pending further enquiries.
Some members of the strictly Orthodox community accused the CST of identifying the teenage suspects to the police – an allegation the charity strongly denied.
The posters appeared around Golders Green[Missing Credit]
A CST spokesperson said: “CST was not in any way responsible for the arrests of five Jewish teenagers in Golders Green on Purim and any suggestion of CST involvement in those arrests is totally false and wrong.
“A local CST representative attended the scene after the trouble that led to the arrests had already started. He tried to calm tempers and in doing so he may well have prevented further arrests from occurring.”
But a local individual connected to the poster campaign said: “The only way that trust can be rebuilt is if there is a public apology from the CST and from the police acknowledging things went wrong.”
The posters underscore tensions between some members of the Charedi community and the CST. The JC understands that a CST volunteer was spat at while on duty in Golders Green by a strictly Orthodox local in an incident some time before Purim.
In a letter to parents on Thursday informing them about the arrests, Hasmonean headteacher Miriam Langdon said: “We take such matters very seriously and will be taking appropriate action once investigations have been concluded.”
