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Service at synagogue featured in Ridley Road ambushed by group with swastikas
Manchester Reform Synagogue's Friday night online service was ambushed by people sharing the nazi symbol
October 24, 2021 20:02
Manchester Reform Synagogue's Friday night online service was ambushed by people sharing the nazi symbol
October 24, 2021 20:02An online service at Manchester Reform Synagogue was interrupted by a group showing racist symbols and shouting slogans.
The Shabbat service hosted by the Synagogue, which was used as a filming location for BBC programme Ridley Road, was taking place on Friday evening when a number of people on the zoom call unmuted themselves to shout racist abuse.
Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen told the BBC: ""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."
Here’s what happens when fascists zoom bomb our Synagogue’s Friday night service - we are shaken. Then we notice how strong our community is. Then we notice how our Jewish stories are all about defeating and surviving Pharaohs and racists. 1...
— Rabbi Robyn Ashworth-Steen (@rabbirobyn) October 22, 2021
Referring to the incident later on Twitter, the rabbi said that the ordeal had left the community "shaken." Greater Manchester police said that inquiries were ongoing and that no-one had been arrested.
Manchester's Reform community is one of the oldest in the UK. It was founded in 1857 when Manchester's Orthodox synagogue split into two congregations: the Orthodox Great Synagogue and Manchester Congregation of British Jews.
The historic synagogue building on Jackson's Row was used for a scene in the BBC programme Ridley Road that featured fascists trying to break into a synagogue.