Manchester Reform Synagogue service ambushed by group with swastikas

The rabbi at Manchester Reform Synagogue said worshippers felt "shaken"

An online religious service hosted by a synagogue was interrupted when people began displaying swastikas and shouting racist abuse.

Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen, from Manchester Reform Synagogue, said the offenders showed "awful racist images" during the meeting on Friday night.

"We were all really shaken and upset about it," she added.

Greater Manchester Police said no-one has been arrested yet and it was conducting inquiries.

Rabbi Steen said a number of people had been trying to interrupt the Sabbath meeting, held at the start of the weekly Jewish holy day.

"Halfway through the service, during some prayers, they unmuted, started to shout, and put on the screen a swastika and some other awful racist images.

"They were kicked out straightaway but it was clear through the service that they were trying to get in."

Traditionally a symbol of well-being in the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit, the swastika was appropriated by the Nazis in the 20th Century, becoming associated with their atrocities - including the Holocaust.

The synagogue featured as a filming location in the BBC drama Ridley Road

Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, she said worshippers initially felt "fearful" about attending the synagogue on Saturday.

However, she said the response from the wider Jewish and Greater Manchester communities had been "overwhelming", adding: "We've had gorgeous messages in.

"My day-to-day existence of being a British Jew is being safe and happy so I'm holding onto that more than the minority of stuff that happens. But recognising it is out there and that work really needs to be done on it."

Anti-Semitic 'undercurrent'

Coincidentally the synagogue, which has been in Jackson's Row since 1952, was used for a scene in the current BBC adaptation of the novel Ridley Road, when fascists break into a synagogue. The Sunday night drama is inspired by the real-life campaign against far-right extremism in 1960s London.

Rabbi Steen said: "It's the reality of what is - it's an undercurrent, it's part of the story that has always been around."

She called for more work to be done to tackle anti-Semitism and racism, including in education.

"You can't sit by and be a silent bystander… so, for everyone, it's about when you see anything, safely calling it out and being with the victim. "

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