Girls aged as young as 10 have been asking for armed police escorts to Hanukkah parties in Manchester, the head of Greater Manchester Police has said.
Sir Stephen Watson made the chilling reveal at an event at the Policy Exchange think tank in London – where he also laid down the law to pro-Palestine protesters in his city.
“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,” he said.
“You cannot say, ‘Well, that is a ridiculous request’. You understand from whence it comes.”
Sir Stephen added that “the intolerable had become normalised” for Jewish people, particularly following the Hamas massacre on October 7 – but now, again, after the Bondi Beach mass shooting.
His force area contains the second-largest Jewish population in the country.
Two people died in an antisemitic attack at Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester during Yom Kippur in October.
Sir Stephen said: “I know that I had reports that there were people in Manchester celebrating the Bondi attack, in ways which is just sickeningly distasteful.”
Sir Stephen Watson (centre) said the ‘intolerable had become normalised’ for Manchester’s Jewish population
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Following the Australia attack, London’s Metropolitan Police announced increased patrols around synagogues and community venues.
Both Sir Stephen and Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley issued a joint statement pledging a more robust approach to policing protests involving “hate speech”.
The pair stated that due to the escalating threat facing Jewish communities, forces would now “recalibrate to be more assertive”.
Sir Stephen explained: “Even six months ago, chanting ‘globalise the intifada’, it’s questionable whether you would find yourself being held up by the police.”
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PICTURED: Pro-Palestine protesters march over a Remembrance display in Manchester
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He continued: “What I can tell you is that, if you do that this weekend, my officers will arrest you.”
Sir Stephen added: “And that is a straightforward reflection of the fact that the dynamic is changing.
“People are calling for things to be globalised which are being globalised. And therefore we need to respond to it.”
The GMP chief appeared softer on the infamous “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” chant, describing it as more subjective and dependent on circumstances.
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 gonna get locked up.”
Sir Stephen also stressed that waving a Palestinian flag is not an offence – but doing so outside a synagogue would also result in an arrest.
He added: “If you’re gonna 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.”