Two men have been charged with religiously aggravated harassment after allegedly taking a field trip to north London to film antisemitic TikTok videos, because apparently that seemed like a good idea at the time.
Officers were summoned to reports of a hate crime involving a group of men allegedly harassing members of the Jewish community on Clapton Common at about 9pm on Thursday, the Metropolitan police said. Five men were arrested in Hackney after the incident.
The Crown Prosecution Service announced that Adam Bedoui, 20, and Abdelkader Amir Bousloub, 21, both from West Drayton, Hillingdon, west London, were set to appear at Thames magistrates court on Saturday. They face charges of religiously aggravated intentional harassment under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, plus intentional harassment under the Public Order Act 1986.
Two other 20-year-old men and a 21-year-old man arrested have been released on bail pending further inquiries, presumably to ponder life choices.
The arrests come hot on the heels of the Met allocating 100 officers to a new community protection team “focused on protecting Jewish communities across London” after a series of recent attacks, including the stabbing of two Jewish men last month in Golders Green. The force noted that in the past four weeks, it has arrested about 50 people for antisemitic hate crimes and charged eight individuals.
Huw Rogers, the chief crown prosecutor for CPS Direct, said: “Our team of out-of-hours prosecutors from CPS Direct worked to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring charges and it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings.” He added a plea for the public not to prejudice proceedings with premature online commentary.
Det Supt Oliver Richter, who leads policing in Hackney and Tower Hamlets, stated: “We will not tolerate any form of hate crime against our communities.”