Two Jewish men have been stabbed in Golders Green, north London, in what has been declared a terrorist incident by police.
The men, named locally as Shilome Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76, were treated at the scene. They are now in a stable condition in hospital, the Metropolitan Police said.
A 45-year-old man, a British national born in Somalia, was Tasered by police before being arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, the force said. The suspect remains in custody.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the “antisemitic attack” – the latest in a string in the UK – was “utterly appalling”, adding: “Attacks on our Jewish community are attacks on Britain.”
The Met said its officers responded at 11:16 BST on Wednesday after receiving reports that people had been stabbed in Highfield Avenue, which runs off Golders Green Road.
The suspect also attempted to stab the attending officers, the Met said, but none were injured.
Video shared on social media appears to show the moment of the arrest. Two officers can be seen approaching the man before one Tasers him and he falls to the ground.
The man appears to then hold a sharp object to his chest with both hands, and the officers and a bystander attempt to wrest it from him. The officers can be seen kicking the man in the head several times in the struggle.
The Met released footage of the incident from the officers’ body-worn cameras, in which they can be heard shouting repeatedly for the suspect to “get down on the ground” before he is Tasered, and then “drop the knife”.
“The suspect refused to show his hands, was violent and continued to pose a clear threat,” the force said, adding that the suspect “continued to try to attack and stab” the officers as they were detaining him.
Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley paid tribute to the officers’ courage, saying: “These were not armed officers and they feared he was carrying an explosive device.”
The suspect had a history of serious violence and mental health issues, he added in a statement at the scene on Wednesday afternoon.
The Met later said officers were carrying out a search at an address in south-east London. Detectives believe the same suspect was involved in an earlier incident in the area.
Police were called at 08:50 BST on Tuesday to an address on Great Dover Street in Southwark, after the suspect was reportedly involved in an altercation with the property’s occupant.
The occupant suffered “minor injuries” and attending officers were unable to locate the suspect, who had left.
Eyewitness Daniela had been shopping in Golders Green on Wednesday morning when she heard people screaming: “He’s got a knife, run.”
The 29-year-old told the BBC that she took shelter in a nearby bookshop and saw the suspect run past in the direction of the North Circular Road.
“At that point, no one was on the street – everyone had run,” she said. “We were a group of mums with buggies. The shop owner locked the door. We were speechless.”
CCTV footage appears to show a man lunging at a person standing near a bus stop. In another clip, a man wearing similar clothing can be seen jogging down a street before chasing a passerby.
Sir Keir thanked Shomrim, the Jewish security group whose responders initially detained the suspect, as well as the volunteer-led ambulance service Hatzola and the police, for “acting swiftly”.
Shomrim said it dispatched volunteers after receiving a call concerning a man running along Golders Green Road “armed with a knife and attempting to stab Jewish members of the public”.
Ben Grossnass, a co-ordinator for the charity, told the BBC that its volunteers “were the first on scene”.
The head of Counter Terrorism Policing, Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, later formally declared the attack a terrorist incident.
The Met commissioner said his “first thoughts” were with the victims, who had been attacked “whilst going about their daily lives, which they should be able to do freely and safely”.
Sir Mark added: “Whilst I can’t comment on live investigations, we know that some individuals are being encouraged, persuaded or paid to commit acts of violence on behalf of foreign organisations and hostile states.”
While the Met Police chief spoke, he was heckled by bystanders, who shouted “shame on you” and “you’ve failed”, and called for his resignation. The local MP, Sarah Sackman, was also heckled.
Sackman, a justice minister, said she understood the anger of the hecklers and insisted tackling antisemitism was “a fight we need to have society-wide”.
She told BBC Newsnight that the attack demonstrated that “the threats to Jewish people in this country are very real”, adding that “we can’t guarantee that everybody is kept safe”.
The minister, who is Jewish herself, said: “When I take my children to synagogue in my local area, I find myself holding and gripping their hand a little bit tighter. I know I’m not alone in that.”
Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, who represents Britain’s largest Jewish community, said the incident “proves that if you are visibly Jewish, you’re not safe and far more needs to be done”.
“This must be a moment that demands meaningful action from every institution, every community, every leader and every decent person in our country,” he said.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that words were “not enough to confront this scourge” of attacks in London.
There have been a spate of incidents in recent months targeting Jewish communities, including an arson attack on community ambulances and incidents at two London synagogues.
London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan said he was “angry”, “appalled” and “disgusted” that Jewish people were “living their lives frightened”.
King Charles III was “naturally deeply concerned” by Wednesday’s attack, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said.
“His thoughts and prayers are with the two individuals who were injured and offers his heartfelt gratitude to those who so selflessly rushed to their aid,” they added.
Asked whether the government was doing enough to keep British Jews safe, Sir Keir said he wanted to “look at enhanced security” and increase funding that was already in place for protecting Jewish communities.
