Police are investigating two arson attacks on kosher restaurants in Manchester, as a Jewish charity says antisemitic hate crime is on the rise in the UK.

Detectives have released CCTV images of the alleged arsonists, who attacked two restaurants in Prestwich, a Jewish area of north Manchester, earlier this month.

Ta’am restaurant on Bury New Road was firebombed shortly before midnight on 2 June when two men approached and threw a milk carton filled with petrol and a lit rag at the premises.

The makeshift molotov cocktail failed to ignite before one of the offenders threw a large stone at the front window, smashing it in the process.

In the early hours of 6 June, JS Restaurant on King’s Road was targeted. The offenders forced open a window before pouring accelerant inside and lighting it.

Detectives believe the attacks are linked and are treating them as antisemitic hate crimes, though the motive is unclear, Greater Manchester police said.

Reports of antisemitic hate crime across the UK are up, year-on-year, according to the Community Security Trust, which collates figures of antisemitic incidents. The charity has put on extra security patrols to reassure and protect the Jewish community in Greater Manchester and beyond, following the Manchester and London terror attacks.

Dave Rich, a spokesman for the CST, said that although they hadn’t seen a spike in complaints following the terrorist attacks, more reports of antisemitism had been made each month this year compared with the same months last year.

The CST will not release the latest figures until July. But in 2016, the charity recorded 1,309 antisemitic incidents (pdf), a 36% increase from the 960 incidents recorded by CST in 2015 and the highest annual total CST has ever recorded.

The most common single type of incident involved verbal abuse randomly directed at visibly Jewish people in public. There were 107 incidents that involved violence, mostly of a minor nature, according to the CST annual report.

Responding to the Manchester arson attacks, Rich said: “We are not jumping to firm conclusions about whether they are antisemitic or not, but when you have got two deliberate arson attacks on kosher restaurants in the space of four days it’s a pretty strong working assumption.”

No one was hurt in either of the kosher restaurants, which were closed at the time they were attacked. Both have since reopened.

Shortly after the fire, Ta’am posted on Facebook: “We can only pray that it’s not antisemitism that led individuals to target both ourselves and the JS. The only positive to such a nasty vindictive crime is the people that shine through with love and support and again this is the case. So lovely to witness unity in the community as documented in the [Jewish Telegraph].”

In May last year Ta’am was the target of another arson attack, which again took place late on a Friday night when the owners were observing Shabbat – the Jewish sabbath. Thousands of pounds worth of damage was caused. No arrests were made in connection with that attack.



Images have now been released of two people police want to speak to in connection with the latest attacks.



DCI Charlotte Cadden of GMP’s Bury borough said: “Our investigation is progressing and we have now released images of two people we want to speak to in connection with the arson attacks. From the images it isn’t clear how old they are but we believe they are two males and I’m hoping that they jog someone’s memory or that someone recognises the clothes they were wearing.

“We are also appealing to a woman to come forward as a potential witness. She has shoulder-length brown hair and was carrying a bag or possibly a parcel under her right arm, was walking near to the Mountheath industrial estate a few minutes before the attack at Ta’am restaurant. She may be able to help us and I would ask that if you are her, you contact us.

“We are working alongside the Community Security Trust and if anyone in the area has concerns, I would urge you to come and talk to us. If you have any information about the attacks, no matter how small, I would urge you to get in touch, as you may have information that could help us.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 quoting incident number 206 06.06.17, or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.