Police investigate after video emerges showing man chasing Orthodox families with stick

A man has been detained by police after a video circulated on social media showing a limping person chasing a Charedi group with a large stick in Stamford Hill, London.

Police are appealing for information in connection with a video.

Shomrim’s Stamford Hill group took to Twitter to share the short clip, in which a man can be heard telling a group of Charedi adults and children that they were "lucky my legs don't work."

The neighbourhood watch group appealed for witnesses to come forward and said the incident took place while families were walking to shul.

#HateCrime #Antisemitism
Dunmore Road #N16 Sat 9am, Deranged male armed with a stick chased Jewish families on the way to #Synagogue @Shomrim are appealing for victims & witnesses to contact us cad 5521 Tuesday, 05 January 2021 pic.twitter.com/jEFrrU7IUj

— Shomrim (Stamford Hill) (@Shomrim) January 5, 2021

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said officers were called to Cranwich Road in north London on 2 January following reports of a disturbance involving a man brandishing a large stick.

“Further calls established that the man then moved into Bethune Road where the disturbance continued,” the spokesperson said.

Officers detained a 29-year-old man on Sunday before releasing him under investigation. Enquiries remain ongoing, police confirmed. The force said it would consider “whether any offences were religiously or racially motivated.”

“We are aware of a video that has since been shared online which appears to have been filmed during this incident.

“It shows that there were a number of people present at the scene who would have witnessed what happened.”

Anyone with information is asked to call 101 or tweet @MetCC quoting CAD1524/02JAN.