A 46-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman have been arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life over a fire at a memorial wall in Golders Green, north London, on 27 April, the Metropolitan Police said.
The memorial wall is a tribute to thousands of protesters killed in a crackdown in Iran in January and is near a Jewish centre.
A section of the wall is dedicated to those killed in the Hamas attack on the Nova music festival in Israel in 2023, while a more recent statement of solidarity for the Jewish community in the wake of recent attacks has been attached to a nearby tree.
The arrests are part of an ongoing Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) investigation following a reported arson attack on a memorial wall in Limes Avenue at around 1215am on April 27.
It is one of a number of suspected antisemitic arson attacks in the area being investigated by police in recent weeks.
Commander Helen Flanagan, Head of CTP London, said: “We are committed to protecting vulnerable communities in the capital. Detectives have been conducting extensive inquiries since this incident was reported to us last week and these two arrests are the result of that hard work.”
It comes after two Jewish men were stabbed and wounded Wednesday in Golders Green by Essa Suleiman, 45, a Somalian-born British national.
The incident was declared a terrorist attack by Counter Terrorism Police, who are leading the investigation. The country’s terror threat level has since been increased to severe, meaning a terror attack is “highly likely”.
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