Arrests in UK over claims antisemitic abuse hurled from cars

LONDON (AP) — British police arrested four people on Sunday over videos posted on social media that appeared to show violent antisemitic language being shouted from a convoy of cars driving through London.

The footage appears to show several cars adorned with Palestinian flags driving through an area of north London with a large Jewish population. At one point a man’s voice can be heard through a loudspeaker shouting profanities and saying “rape their daughters.”

The Metropolitan Police force said officers stopped a car on a main road in the west of the city and detained four men on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offenses.

“This behavior was utterly shocking and will not be tolerated," police Supt. Jo Edwards said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the images, which came just before the Jewish festival of Shavuot.

“There is no place for antisemitism in our society," he said on Twitter. "Ahead of Shavuot, I stand with Britain’s Jews who should not have to endure the type of shameful racism we have seen today.”

On Saturday, thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in London to protest Israel’s strikes on Gaza during a week of conflict. It was one of scores of protests around the world.

At least 188 Palestinians and eight Israelis have been killed in the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence since a 50-day war in Gaza in 2014.