Police say assault that left a 17-year-old Jewish boy with a serious head injury and two others in hospital was ‘sustained and brutal’

Two teenage boys have been arrested after a suspected antisemitic attack in Greater Manchester that left a 17-year-old Jewish boy with a serious head injury and two other victims in hospital.

The 17-year-old suspects were arrested at addresses in Whitefield, near Bury, and in Derbyshire on suspicion of violent disorder and causing grievous bodily harm in the attack, which police said had caused anxiety in Manchester’s Jewish community.



A group of three men and one boy had been waiting for a tram in Bury, a north Manchester suburb, last Friday night, when assailants on the opposite platform began hurling insults, according to police.

When the group tried to leave the scene at Bowker Vale Metrolink stop, their assailants pursued them down Middleton Road and launched a “sustained and unprovoked attack”, police said.

A 17-year-old, named in media reports as Moshe Fuerst, was knocked unconscious and suffered a serious head injury. He emerged from a medically induced coma on Monday but remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Two 18-year-old men were taken to hospital for treatment to minor injuries, but have since been discharged. The fourth victim, a 20-year-old man, did not need hospital treatment.

Police are treating the attack as an antisemitic hate crime. The Guardian understands this is based on what was allegedly said to the victims during the attack. At least one victim was wearing a kippa when he was attacked, according to reports.

Det Insp Liam Boden, of Greater Manchester police, said the attack, which came just ahead of the start of the Jewish high holy days, had caused upset and anxiety in the community. “I want to offer reassurance that hate crime will not be tolerated and we will do everything we can to stop it,” Boden said.

“For the past few weeks, we have been working closely with the community and Community Security Trust to put in place extra measures in the lead-up to the high holy days period, with plans already in place to step up patrols in the area and increase security over the coming weeks.”

Boden said the two suspects would be questioned later on Thursday, but appealed for witnesses to the attack to come forward to help the police inquiry.

“There are two distinct scenes, as we believe the victims were chased from the platform to Middleton Road and that is where the most serious assault took place,” he said.

“We would therefore like to ask anyone who may have been travelling along Middleton Road at around 11.25pm on Saturday, or anyone who believes they may have witnessed the attack, to come forward.

“Similarly, we believe the offenders then alighted the Metrolink towards Bury at around 11.35pm, travelling between Bowker Vale and Radcliffe.

“We know there were people on this tram and that they would have noticed these offenders travelling between carriages, as it would have been obvious that at least one of them had been involved in an assault.”

Amanda Bomsztyk, northern regional director of the Community Security Trust, a charity providing security advice and training to Jewish community groups, said: “There is far too much antisemitic abuse and violence, and we hope these arrests will send a strong message, providing some reassurance to the Jewish community.”

Antisemitic hate crimes have risen by more than half in Greater Manchester in the past year, according to Tony Lloyd, the city’s police and crime commissioner.

“The police are treating this as a hate crime and, while we don’t know the full details of this particular incident, I want to make clear that all reports of hate crime will be dealt with seriously,” he said.

• This article was amended on 11 September 2015. An earlier version included a paragraph that said Rabbi Michael Fuerst had told the Jewish Chronicle (JC) the attack on his son, Michael Fuerst, could have been down to an argument over cannabis. That is what the JC reported, but it has since taken down that version of its story, and Rabbi Fuerst has informed the Guardian that the attack had nothing to do with drugs.