Lammy heckled and booed by crowd at Manchester synagogue vigil
Justice secretary David Lammy was heckled and booed by some of the crowd as he addressed a vigil close to the scene of the Manchester synagogue attack.
As he took to the stage he faced calls of “shame on you”, “go to Palestine, leave us alone”, “you’ve allowed it to grow on the campuses” and “you have blood on your hands”.
Key events
Joanne Sheldon, 61, from Radcliffe, Bury, said she turned her back when David Lammy began to speak at a vigil for the victims of the synagogue attack.
She said:
We didn’t know he would be speaking here and when we found out we just thought ‘why is he here?’ Jewish people don’t feel it’s safe in Britain now.
Her friend Hayley Lawson, 49, said hatred was being “stirred up” by pro-Palestine marches.
She said:
It is not our fault what is going on between Israel and Gaza. Nobody wants war.
There were marches at the beginning with Ukraine and Russia but those marches have all gone and what about all the other things happening in the world? People aren’t marching for them.
That says to me these marches are against Jewish people, pure and simple, because if they weren’t they’d be marching about other things going on in the world.
Joanne Lazarus, 61, from Whitefield, Bury, shouted “shame on you” and “you’re embarrassing” at David Lammy as he spoke at the vigil.
She said she wanted the government to stop pro-Palestine marches taking place.
She told the PA news agency:
I took the chance to make my voice heard. I can’t take these marches every single Saturday.
I’ve been into town on a Saturday and have been told I’m a baby killer and to ‘go home’.
That hatred is felt through the whole of the UK and through what happened here yesterday. I knew it would happen.
Lazarus, who attended the Heaton Park Shul when she was younger, said she didn’t think Lammy would “care” about the response he received at the vigil.
Closing the vigil, Rabbi Walker added: “I want to say thank you again to those special and heroic men who stopped that terrorist getting into my shul and stopped much worse things happening.
“I want to say thank you to emergency services, first of all, to the police, who came to our aid at the time of our greatest need, who were there for us.
“The fire service, the ambulance service, those who tended to the wounded. to all those who have helped us and supported us through this most terrible and darkest time.
“Adrian and Melvin died as Jews for being Jews. The only way to defeat darkness, the only way to defeat unholiness, is with goodness.”
The justice secretary was heckled and booed by some of the crowd as he addressed a vigil close to the scene of the Manchester synagogue attack.
As he took to the stage, Lammy faced calls of “shame on you”, “go to Palestine, leave us alone”, “you’ve allowed it to grow on the campuses” and “you have blood on your hands”.
David Lammy has said “we all feel terrorism” and used the example of his “best childhood friend” who was “blown to smithereens” in the 7 July 2005 London bombings.
During vigil near the site of Thursday’s terror attack, the justice secretary said:
We stand with you against those who think bombs and blasts will break us, we stand against all states who would minimise or coddle or obfuscate on anti-Jewish hate.
We know terrorism in this country. We know it, of course, in this city – we saw it at the arena, and we have seen it in Heaton Park.
We all know terrorism, we all feel terrorism – my best friend from childhood, James Adams, was blown to smithereens in the 7/7 bombings.
And I vow to you, every Christian, every Muslim, every Jew, every Mancunian, every Brit: we will never stop fighting it.
However, uproar resumed in the vigil crowd as Lammy said “that is why we stand in defiance of those terrorists who seek to divide us”.
There were shouts from attendees, and one man could be heard saying “you enabled it, every Saturday”.
He continued:
We cannot, must not, let them divide us – we must show them who we really are, not what they want us to become or to believe.
Chief constable of Greater Manchester Police Stephen Watson addressed the vigil on Friday afternoon.
He said:
I can pledge to you that GMP are with you as one in continuing relentlessly, professionally, ruthlessly, all of those who would harm our Jewish community and other communities across Greater Manchester where hate is the originator of their intent.
He praised the CST, saying they are “the embodiment of our mutual determination to keep our communities safe and for you to have your absolute God-given right to live your Jewish lives as you’re entitled to do in our country”.
The mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham addressed the vigil and said:
We care about you, we love you, we value what you have given to Greater Manchester over the years.
An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.
That is the permanent principle, the firm foundation on which this city region has been built, by you by us, by everyone here over centuries, that is who we are, and we will not let this break us in any way, shape, or form.
I salute the strength of our Jewish community.
Lammy told the vigil that “we must stand in grief, in solidarity and in defiance”, after heckles from the crowd.
The justice secretary said:
We must stand together … in grief for the innocent lives that were taken so cruelly – senseless murders carried out on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish year, grief that causes so much pain and so much suffering.
Today our hearts, our thoughts, our prayers must be with the families of those who were killed, and of course, with this community, this Jewish community, both here in Manchester and in Heaton Park Synagogue.
Right across our nation, and as the member of parliament for Tottenham, I know the suffering in Crumpsall is all the same as the pain, the worry and the frightened faces in my own constituency and in the area of Stamford Hill – one of the historic homes of the Jewish community in this country.
In that sense, London and Manchester are twin communities grieving as one, and the whole nation is with them.
Lammy heckled and booed by crowd at Manchester synagogue vigil
Justice secretary David Lammy was heckled and booed by some of the crowd as he addressed a vigil close to the scene of the Manchester synagogue attack.
As he took to the stage he faced calls of “shame on you”, “go to Palestine, leave us alone”, “you’ve allowed it to grow on the campuses” and “you have blood on your hands”.
After leading the prayer, Rabbi Walker continued: “We thank all those of our community and beyond.
“We also remember Adrian and Melvin, truly wonderful special men whose lives were so truly snatched from them as they tried to pray as Jews on the holiest day of the year on Yom Kippur.”
He then went on to recite another prayer.
Rabbi pays tribute to ‘heroes’ as vigil begins in north Manchester
Rabbi Daniel Walker, from the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation, has paid thanks to “one of the heroes” who is recovering in hospital from “terrible wounds”, during a vigil after the synagogue terror attack.
Speaking on Middleton Road near the police cordon, he told the crowd:
I’m joined here by many dignitaries for whose presence we are very, very grateful, but I just want to introduce you, first of all, to the young people who are standing here with me.
He addressed the “youngest kids” of “one of the people, one of the heroes, of the Heaton Park Shul community, who is today in hospital recovering from terrible wounds.”
The rabbi added that he is recovering alongside two men who “blocked the terrorist” with their bodies.
“So I want to begin with prayers for them, as is traditional”, he said, before leading a prayer in Hebrew.
You can watch coverage of the vigil live here:
The Campaign Against Antisemitism plans to hold a demonstration outside Downing Street next Thursday, to mark a week following the Manchester terror attack.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) said:
The time for dialogue, platitudes, and lip service has passed. Britain can no longer afford excuses while our Jewish community faces terror on our streets. On Thursday evening, we will be protesting outside Downing Street to demand action, not empty words.
Those murdered yesterday were simply going to synagogue to pray on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Their deaths were made inevitable by the radicalisation and Islamist extremism that successive governments have allowed to fester – ignoring warnings, tolerating incitement, and failing to act. If you reward terrorism, you get terrorism; if you appease the mob, the mob is emboldened.
Now Britain must show that it truly wants to keep its Jews safe. The government must ban extremist protests, hold police chiefs accountable, compel regulators to step up, and ensure universities and media accept responsibility for the environment of hatred they have tolerated. No more double standards: the mobs must be treated like those at Southport – with the full force of the law.
The blood of British Jews is on the hands of politicians who have appeased extremists, police chiefs who have failed to enforce the law, universities and media who have turned a blind eye, and regulators who have done too little for too long.
Downing Street must act. Not tomorrow, not after another attack – now.
GMP chief joins calls for pro-Palestine Action protests to be called off this weekend
Greater Manchester Police chief Stephen Watson has joined the calls for this weekend’s pro-Palestine Action protests to be called off.
He said he was asking for “common decency” and “humanity”, while asking if now is the right time for demonstrations to be held.
He said:
We’re ensuring that every available officer in Greater Manchester is currently deployed to provide reassurance, particularly amongst our Jewish communities, at what is a time of profound distress and sorrow.
We are aware that a number of planned demonstrations are due to take place this weekend, of the variety that we routinely police across our city-region week-in and week-out.
At this time, however, I am directly appealing to all those who might be intending to protest this weekend to consider whether this is really the right time.
You could do the responsible and sensitive thing and refrain, on this occasion, from protesting in a manner which is likely to add to the trauma currently being experienced by our Jewish community.
We can’t and wouldn’t seek to stop peaceful gatherings, however, we will act immediately to curtail any acts of violence, intimidation or threat. In circumstances where protests do occur over the coming days, we will act robustly in all circumstances to uphold the law.
I would call upon the common decency and humanity of all people across Greater Manchester to aid us in seeking to support our Jewish communities following such a horrific attack.
There are planned vigils and dignified events that will occur over the coming hours and days. These are opportunities for quiet and respectful reflection, and I know that the decent majority of people across Greater Manchester will join together in standing shoulder to shoulder with those who grieve.
