Pregnant Orthodox woman assaulted in London
(JTA) — A middle-aged man was filmed stalking and hitting a pregnant Jewish woman in London.
In the incident Thursday evening, the man is seen following the 20-year-old Orthodox woman in the early evening into a quiet street in Stamford Hill, a northern part of London with many Orthodox Jews. He approached her from behind, placed a cloth or pillow case over her head and assaulted her before walking briskly away. The woman sustained minor injuries.
The local Shomrim, a Jewish community neighborhood watch and emergency services group, published images of a person they said was the attacker and video taken from surveillance cameras, asking the public to help police identify the man, who appears to be a white and older than 40.
Shomrim later removed the video, saying it was too violent to share and “triggering” to victims.
A statement from the metropolitan police said: “Detectives are investigating after a woman was assaulted in a Hackney street.”
They did not say whether they consider the incident a hate crime, according to The Jewish News of London, which reported on the incident Monday.
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