A London woman has been convicted after hurling antisemitic abuse at Jewish children outside a school in Stamford Hill and then assaulting a father who confronted her, according to a statement from the Crown Prosecution Service.
The CPS said Syeda Khatun, 39, approached children waiting outside a Jewish secondary school on May 10 after a school trip. Prosecutors said she first shouted antisemitic abuse at a mother holding her baby, then turned toward the children and swung her arms at them aggressively.
When the father of one of the children asked why she was targeting children, Khatun struck him in the face, pulled his beard, and continued shouting antisemitic slurs, the CPS said.
Following a trial at Stratford Magistrates’ Court on July 3, Khatun was convicted of three counts of racially aggravated assault, one count of racially aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and one count of racially aggravated words and behavior causing harassment, alarm or distress. She is scheduled to be sentenced on July 24 at Thames Magistrates’ Court.
Ragvesh Singh, a senior Crown prosecutor in CPS London North, called it “a shocking attack” and said violence driven by antisemitic hatred is “abhorrent.” Detective Chief Superintendent Brittany Clarke of the Metropolitan Police said officers responded within minutes and stressed that police continue to maintain enhanced security measures around vulnerable Jewish areas in London.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
