Schoolgirls ask armed police to escort them to Hanukkah parties after Bondi beach attack

Before anyone suggests paranoia – like other comment threads – this is in Manchester. A few months after a terrorist attack in that city that targeted Jewish people

>Sir Stephen said: “We are getting telephone calls into Greater Manchester Police day in and day out over the recent days where you have got a group of 10-year-old girls wanting to go to a Hanukkah party, where they should be frankly interested in balloons and bicycles, [and] are making a request for armed police officers.

Even if you don’t think that the protection is warranted (which I think is a reasonable debate – though I can certainly see why it would be, particularly in Manchester, after the attack on the synagogue a few months ago), isn’t it pretty damning that 10-year-olds are even thinking about this in the first place?

I’m entirely sympathetic to Sir Stephen’s point that they should be instead “interested in balloons and bicycles”. Children should not be living in this state of fear in this country, and it is an utter failure of society that they are.

EDIT: For clarity, because judging by several replies what I have written is being misunderstood; when I say “reasonable debate”, I am not saying that I don’t think they need protection. For a start, just because I acknowledge a reasonable argument exists, does not mean I *agree* with it.

I am saying that there is a reasonable debate about what level of protection British Jews should get, which would need to take into account the practicalities of resources. And that there would be nothing wrong with someone saying “we cannot offer an armed escort to every British Jew that wants to leave the house”. Which again, does not mean I would make that argument myself.

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Makes me very sad to hear they’re going through this

No community let alone kids should have to feel fear celebrating their religious rights and days

Felt the same about Ramadan over Lebanon and Gaza

The Police later jailed them for racism, long live the Yookay

>Speaking at the event, he explained: “Even six months ago, chanting ‘globalise the intifada’, it’s questionable whether you would find yourself being held up by the police.

>“What I can tell you is that, if you do that this weekend, my officers will arrest you.”

So police are making the law now?

>He said: “We’ve always said in Manchester you can say ‘River to the Sea’ in the midst of a protest, but say it outside a synagogue, you’re going to get locked up.

>“It’s not an offence to wave a Palestinian flag, but if you wave it outside a synagogue, you’re going to get locked up.

>“If you’re going to talk about ‘jihad’, you are going to get locked up. There is a reason why we have more than doubled arrests in Manchester – we are fond of arresting people.”

The fuck is he, Judge Dredd? He’s brazenly boasting that his force uses police detention to summarily punish people based on his whims. Really shouldn’t talk like a fascist while dressed that way lol.

Why would the schoolchildren need protection? Who do they need protection from?