Labour activists have been accused of hurling anti-Semitic abuse at Jewish protesters during a Jeremy Corbyn rally in Bristol.

Supporters of the Labour leader allegedly verbally abused a group of Jewish students from Bristol University who were protesting against the party’s record on anti-Semitism.

Students claimed they were called “filthy Zionists”, “puppets of the Zionist lobby” and “filthy Jews” by Corbyn-supporters ahead of his address at an election rally in the city centre on Monday.

Seb Sultan, a politics finalist at Bristol University, said: “While Corbyn was speaking there was a large scuffle when someone trying to grab my placard.

It involved about ten people: one person tried to grab my placard, some tried to help him, some tried to separate us, some tried to defend me.

“We ran into the city council building because there we were fearful for our safety. I reported the assault to the police and I have a meeting with them on Sunday.

“I knew there was an issue with anti-Semitism in Labour – but it was absolutely shocking that shouldn’t happen at a mainstream British political event.”

Sabrina Miller, a second year English Literature student at Bristol, said: “The first instance I saw was someone came up to us and said, ‘You’re all puppets of the Zionist media’ and then stormed off. From then on in, people started yelling abuse at us, people wearing Labour party stickers.”