Following the reported assault on an Orthodox Jewish man in Slough on Monday, Thames Valley Police said on Thursday that they had arrested a suspect in the incident.
The 48-year-old Slough man was arrested on suspicion of racially or religiously aggravated assault and racially or religiously aggravated public order, and has been in custody since Thursday evening.
The suspect allegedly made verbally abusive and antisemitic comments to a 20-year-old man, and may have attempted to smack or snatch the phone from the victim’s hand.
According to a video posted online by the London North and East Shomrim, the suspect approached the victim on a bike and demanded to know what the visibly Jewish man was doing in the area.
“F***ing baby killer,” the assailant said, according to the video footage. “I’ll break your jaw, you f***ing dirty little f***er.”
The victim denied that he had harmed any children, to which the suspect asserted that the Jewish man had been “killing babies in Palestine.”
The attacker appeared to make several attempts to grab or strike the phone while the victim was filming the altercation.
“Dirty motherf***ing Jew,” the man said in the Shomrim video.
'Minding his own business at work'
Shomrim said on X/Twitter that the victim was “minding his own business whilst at work, when he was subjected to this shocking, unprovoked attack.”
The Berkshire East Priority Crime Team Investigating Officer, Detective Inspector Terry Dixon, urged any witnesses who hadn’t already done so to contact law enforcement and aid the investigation. There were no similar reports in the area, but he cautioned that if such incidents occurred, it was important that the authorities be notified.
“We know this incident will cause a great deal of concern within our Jewish communities. I would like to reassure you that we are progressing this investigation as a priority,” Dixon said in a statement.
“Antisemitic incidents, or indeed any hate-related incident reported in the Thames Valley, will not be tolerated by police and we will do everything in our power to bring those responsible to justice,” he assured.