Four wounded after car drives into crowd outside Manchester synagogue

Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, Mayor Andy Burnham of Greater Manchester said that a “degree of reassurance can be given that it’s not a developing, an ongoing, incident”.

“It is believed that the offender is deceased, although it’s not confirmed,” Burnham said.

In a series of posts on X, Greater Manchester Police said they were called to the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall shortly after 9:30am by a member of the public, who said he had witnessed a car being driven toward members of the public and that one man had been stabbed.

Minutes later, shots were fired by firearms officers. “One man has been shot, believed to be the offender,” it added.

It said four people were being treated for injuries caused by both the vehicle and stab wounds.

Police said it had “declared Plato”, the national code-word used by police and emergency services when responding to a “marauding terror attack”. That does not mean it has been declared a terrorist incident.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is at a summit of European leaders in Copenhagen, said in a post on X that he was “appalled” by the attack.

“The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific,” he said. 

Starmer is flying back from the summit to chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee, COBRA.

Dave Rich of the Community Security Trust, a charity that monitors anti-Semitism in the UK, said there is “always a significant security operation in place” between police and the trust across the Jewish community on all major Jewish festivals.

“It’s a very solemn day and synagogues across the country will be full throughout the day,” he said. 

Starmer said that additional police officers will be deployed at synagogues across the UK.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)