Two more synagogues were set afire and badly damaged in different parts of greater London yesterday. The attacks were the 21st and 22nd of this type in London since last fall, despite the special precautions taken to guard Jewish communal property.
The first of the fires broke out shortly after midnight at the IIford synagogue. Firemen found that inflammable liquid had been poured on the edifice. The blaze blew out most of the synagogue’s windows, and damaged the floor and much of the woodwork. Scrawled on one of the walls were the slogans “Heil, Hitler!, ” and “We shall free Britain from Jewish control.”
About two hours later, fire blazed in an entirely different section of the city, in a synagogue on Lea Bridge Road, Clapton. The damage here was about the same as in the Jewish house of worship at IIford.
Scotland Yard announced several weeks ago that it was taking special precautions to guard Jewish houses of worship and institutions, and the Government had assured the House of Commons formally that police surveillance is in effect against anti-Semitic outbreaks. The Board of Deputies of British Jews has been in close contact on the issue with Scotland Yard, and had announced also that Jewish ex-servicemen and women have been alerted. In some synagogues, rabbis have appealed for Jewish young men to form self-defense corps to guard the houses of worship.
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