London – Police are investigating claims Jewish children have been prevented from getting on buses in London.
In one incident, several Jewish schoolboys were waiting at Egerton Road bus stop in Stamford Hill, north London and signalled for it to stop. The driver initially slowed down but then continued without stopping, the complaint says.
It is claimed several passengers were encouraging the driver’s alleged actions, making antisemitic remarks and expressing their gratitude for the bus not stopping, the Met Police said. The incident is said to have occurred at around 8.05am on the 76 bus towards Waterloo, on 26 November.
The alleged incident was reported to Shomrim – the Jewish Community Safety Patrol – and to the Met by a passenger who felt “threatened, intimidated, shocked, and scared” as he was the only Jewish person on the bus at the time. He said he was angered by the “apparent complicity of the bus driver and other passengers”, a Shomrim spokesperson said.
A similar incident is said to have taken place three days later, on the 318 bus, on Ravensdale Road in Hackney at around 7.40pm. A 13-year-old Jewish girl reported her bus initially slowing down for Jewish boys putting their hands out for it to stop.
She claimed the driver then rapidly accelerated and did not allow them on. At the next stop, a non-Jewish Londoner was permitted on board, suggesting “discriminatory behaviour by the driver”, the complaint claims.
