A 71-year-old has spoken of feeling “shaken up” after his kippah was knocked from his head in an alleged hate crime last week as he left a showing of the play Leopoldstadt, which is about the Holocaust.

Scotland Yard said it was investigating reports of a religiously-aggravated assault on Charing Cross Road shortly before 10pm last Thursday. 

An “unknown suspect is believed to have grabbed the victim’s kippah from his head and threw it on the floor,” the force said. 

No arrests have been made, a spokesperson said Tuesday. 

The victim, Ronnie Phillips, a chief accountant visiting from Israel, said the incident occurred as he left the Wyndham's Theatre, having seen Tom Stoppard’s Holocaust drama. 

Speaking to the JC on Monday, he said he was not injured but felt “a bit traumatised”. He also called for increased security outside the West End theatre during the production. 

Mr Phillips, who made aliyah in May, said he felt safer in Israel.

“Coming back from Israel, even though we’re under rocket attacks, believe it or not, we actually feel safer there than we do here because we do feel an increased level of antisemitism,” he said. 

The incident was reported to the Community Security Trust last week. 

A spokesperson said the incident was “completely inexcusable” and “all the more distressing because it happened right outside a play about the Holocaust.”

A CST report published earlier this month revealed record levels of antisemitism this year.