Jewish children were left terrified when rocks were hurled at their London bus by teenagers shouting “f**k Israel,” it has been reported.
The youngers, travelling on two buses from the Jews’ Free School in Kenton, faced the abuse on Wednesday afternoon as their Uno-run 688 buses passed through High Street, Edgware.
The Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation into the incident, which is being treated as a potential hate crime.
A 12-year-old boy told the Jewish Chronicle: “I was sitting at the front of the bus and everyone was completely terrified and hiding under our seats. It was really scary.
“They had big heavy rocks. There is a park nearby and they might have got the rocks from there.
“They were also swearing at us, saying, ‘F**k Israel, nobody likes you. F**k off you b***hes’.
“They were filming us like they were enjoying it. There were lots of people in the street and no one tried to stop them. I hope that something like that won’t happen again because it made me scared.”
An 11-year-old girl added that four teens came onto the bus and started swearing before getting off and hurling the rocks.
She said: “None of us knew what to do. Some people got off the bus to maybe run away but it was far from my stop so I stayed on the bus. They were swearing at us and filming us. We don’t know what they are going to do with that video or why they did what they did.”
JFS, the school name as it is commonly abbreviated, is well known in the Brent community and has been in operation since 1732.
The Community Security Trust, a charity which helps the Jewish community in Britain, has said it is supporting families.
Dave Rich, of the trust, added: “This stop is near another school and there has been trouble before from children from this other school.
“We are supporting JFS and speaking to the other school to see if they can deal with it. All schools have a police officer attached and we are also speaking to them and have suggested they enhance police presence at the bus stop to ensure there is no more trouble.
“It must have been frightening for the kids. We are hoping the police can make sure this all calms down.”
Siwan Hayward, TfL’s Director of Compliance, Policing, Operations and Security, said: “We are deeply concerned by these reports. No-one should ever have to fear or experience abuse when using our network.
“We take a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of hate crime, and work with the police to pursue anyone who is abusive to our customers or staff. Alongside the bus operator, Uno, we are supporting the police with their investigation and are supplying footage from the CCTV cameras, which all buses are equipped with.
“We encourage anyone who experienced or witnessed this incident to contact the police.”
Superintendent Lorraine Busby-McVey, in charge of neighbourhood policing in Barnet, said: “This was a distressing incident for those on the bus and the behaviour of the individuals responsible is completely unacceptable.
“There is no place for hate crime either here or across the rest of London, and a thorough investigation is underway.”
