A Charedi mother has told the JC about the traumatic moment her nine-year-old son was snatched by a gang of teenage thugs in front of her house in Stamford Hill, London.
In a clip of CCTV footage that has since gone viral, the gang can be seen blocking the boy’s path before another approaches him from behind, picks him up and carries him off to a nearby front garden.
Shomrim have released a video of a gang of teens harassing a Jewish child on his way back from school.
— The Jewish Chronicle (@JewishChron) December 14, 2021
They're appealing for information. pic.twitter.com/guZJfMKSe2
The mother, who asked not to be named, told the JC that when she asked her son to re-enact what had happened, he burst into tears.
“He told me: ‘At first my legs were stiff and then they felt like jelly and I started crying.’ He must have been terrified.”
She added that “the mother in me took over”, and she ran into the road shouting: “Who touched my kid?”
Terrifyingly, the gang responded by following her back to her house.
At that moment, she discovered that she recognised one gang member as a neighbour who lives on her street.
“I wanted to believe it wasn’t them but it was them. One of them lives six doors down from us. I felt sick about it,” she said.
The incident last Thursday prompted anger from community leaders who accused the police and local council of doing little to stop the thugs — known as Webb Estate Gang — who have been targeting the Jewish community.
Eli Spitzer, head of Talmud Torah London in Stamford Hill, told the JC: “This is not an isolated incident, but part of a pattern of violence and criminality, carried out by a known gang that
specialises in the harassment of the local Jewish community.
“People I have spoken to are increasingly frustrated by the attitude of the police who treat these incidents as minor public order disturbances and petty crime. These incidents are far from petty and it’s time local law enforcement showed that protecting Jewish children from assault is on their list of priorities.”
Rabbi Herschel Gluck, chairman of local security group Shomrim, said: “They deliberately target Jewish children, women and homes. The other day they were throwing stones at women. The police and local council have done very little to help or stop them.”
The mother said her son was lucky that the attackers abandoned their attack “when they saw him crying”.
She added: “If it is not going to stop here where could it escalate to? I always teach my kids don’t touch other people and don’t touch their property and you like to think the same of other people, but I don’t know.”
When contacted by the JC, the Metropolitan police said: “Police were called at around 6.30pm on Thursday, 9 December to a report that a group of teenagers had approached a boy, aged nine, as he was walking down Osbaldeston Road, N16.
“It was reported that one of the group picked up the boy and carried him to a nearby front garden where they let him go. He received no injuries.
“Officers attended and spoke to the victim’s mother. She did not wish to take any further action and the incident is not being treated as a hate crime.
“One suspect has been identified and issued with an anti-social behaviour warning. Enquiries are underway to identify others involved.”
