After the attack, police were seen ushering a large group of mostly Jewish elderly men – some in tears, many looking shocked – away from the synagogue. Some were wearing white robes, others were in suits and wearing a skullcap.
Crawshaw said she saw about 30 people being taken out, including three young children, with three bodies also dragged out from the building on orange stretchers.
“I’m appalled by the attack at a synagogue in Crumpsall,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said as he rushed away early from a European political gathering in Copenhagen to return to Britain to chair an emergency meeting.
“The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific.”
Starmer said that additional police were being deployed to synagogues across the country, adding: “We will do everything to keep our Jewish community safe”.
Britain’s King Charles said he was “deeply shocked and saddened” to learn of the attack, “especially on such a significant day for the Jewish community”.
The Israeli embassy in London said on X that the attack was “abhorrent and deeply distressing” and that it was in close contact with the Manchester Jewish community.
