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People have been advised to avoid Manchester hospitals unless they require urgent or life-threatening care following a stabbing incident near a synagogue.
Police rushed to the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue at 9.31am today on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Four people have been injured – with two believed to be dead – after a car was driven at a crowd and a man was stabbed, before the suspect was shot.
Police said it had ‘declared Plato’ – the national code-word used by police and emergency services when responding to a ‘marauding terror attack’.
An NHS Greater Manchester spokesperson stated: ‘We are aware of the current situation in Crumpsall and are actively supporting the multi-agency response led by Greater Manchester Police and other emergency services.
‘Our priority is to ensure the safety and care of patients and staff across the region, and we are working closely with partners to manage any impact on local hospitals and emergency departments.
‘We urge the public to only visit Accident & Emergency (A&E) departments for urgent or life-threatening conditions. This will help us prioritize those most in need and ensure emergency teams can respond effectively to this incident.
‘If you are unsure about which service to use, please contact NHS 111 online or by phone for guidance.’
An internal note by the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘Greater Manchester major incident declared – lockdown of our sites.’
People have been told to avoid Manchester hospitals unless they have urgent or life-threatening conditions. (Pictured: police and ambulance crews near the cordon outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall)
Footage shows a suspect lying on the ground outside the synagogue as armed police aim their guns at him. Moments later, the suspect attempts to get up before shots are fired.
A Kia Picanto, which appeared to have been damaged by a collision, pictured at the scene today
The note, seen by the Manchester Evening News, says: ‘Please be advised that all our sites have been asked to immediately lock down following the declaration of a major incident within Greater Manchester.
‘We have been informed that emergency services are at the scene of an incident within Manchester. We will share further details as these become available.’
A witness outside Salford Royal hospital said the hospital was ‘on lockdown’ with no one allowed ‘in or out’.
Another patient inside Fairfield General has told local news that security are now staffing the doors.
Bosses at Greater Manchester NHS, however, insisted that patients should attend their scheduled appointments at hospital unless they have been informed otherwise.
Video shared on social media appears to show armed police officers pointing guns at someone laying on the ground as one screams to onlookers: ‘Everyone move back, he has a bomb, go away.’
The person on the ground is seen starting to get up before there is the sound of a gunshot and they fall to the ground. Another person is also shown lying motionless on the ground outside the synagogue gates with blood around their head.
A white lorry marked ‘bomb disposal’ later arrived at the scene, and went behind the cordon outside the synagogue.
Police sources told the Daily Mail it was ‘too early’ to determine the attacker’s motivation.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: ‘I am horrified by the news of an attack at a synagogue in Manchester today, on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.’
Sir Keir Starmer, who will now fly home early from a meeting of European leaders to chair Cobra, said ‘additional police assets’ would now be sent to synagogues around the country.
He said: ‘I’m appalled. The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific.’
Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said one of the victims was a security guard who had been stabbed. He said the attacker is believed to be dead.
‘My first thoughts are with the victims, our brave police and emergency services.’
A bomb disposal unit is at the scene alongside dozens of police vehicles and fire and ambulance crews
An armed police officer – his face covered by a mask – stands behind the cordon
Manchester has a Jewish population of more than 30,000, the highest in UK after London.
Kemi Badenoch described the incident as a ‘vile and disgusting attack’ and called for the ‘rise in antisemitism that we’re seeing in our country’ to be ‘quelled completely’.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: ‘I am appalled not only by this brutal attack, but also by the evil that lies behind it.’
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said he was ‘horrified’.
A short distance away from the synagogue, police officers armed with Heckler & Koch machine guns stood guard at the head of a path, between houses, leading up to the back of the synagogue.
Members of the Jewish community have been gathering around the police cordon, with some of them in tears.
A number of black, unmarked police 4×4 vehicles and vans carrying plain clothes officers with face coverings were seen leaving the area of the incident at speed.
One victim was seen next to a Kia Picanto, which appeared to have been damaged by a collision. The vehicle was taxed – and passed its MOT around eight weeks ago.
Members of the army unload a bomb disposal robot at the scene
Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation is a large Ashkenazi Orthodox synagogue, which was formally founded in 1935 and is headed by Rabbi Daniel Walker
Immediately after the attack, one Jewish man said his wife and daughter and other members of the congregation were still inside the synagogue.
He said: ‘It is the holiest day of the year and we get this. There is no place for Jews in Britain anymore. It’s over.’
A rabbi and head of the Rabbinic Court of Great Britain said fears which had already existed in the Jewish community due to heightened tensions in recent years following the October 7 Hamas attacks and Israel’s military action in Gaza, will now be further increased.
Rabbi Jonathan Romain, emeritus rabbi of Maidenhead Synagogue, told the PA news agency he felt ‘appalled’ by the attack in Manchester.
He said: ‘This is every Rabbi’s or every Jewish person’s worst nightmare.
‘Not only is this a sacred day, the most sacred in the Jewish calendar, but it’s also a time of mass gathering, and the time when the Jewish community, however religious or irreligious, gathers together.’
He said it appears tensions over the war in Gaza had ‘spilled over’ to the UK, despite efforts to stop that happening.
He said: ‘The real tragedy is, of course that the war in Gaza, which is tragic in itself, has sort of spilled over into the United Kingdom.
Fire and rescue crews are among those responding to the incident in Manchester
A major incident and police have enacted ‘Plato’ – the national code-word used by the emergency services when responding to a ‘marauding terror attack’
‘For the last two years, we were desperately trying to make sure that whatever was going on in the Middle East was not imported here. This has shown that our worst fears have been realised.
‘This will obviously heighten the fears that many Jews have had, that political violence would spill over into religious hatred.’
Earlier this year, the Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitism in the UK, said Jews were facing ‘more hatred and pressure’ than they have for decades after the organisation recorded more than 3,500 incidents in 2024.
Reports of antisemitism reached a record high in 2023 at 4,296 – the year that saw the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel and the subsequent military action in the region that has continued since.
A more recent report by the CST showed there were 1,521 antisemitic incidents across the UK in the first half of 2025.
This was the second highest total ever reported to the organisation in the first six months of any year, but it was down by a quarter from the record high of 2,019 incidents recorded between January and June 2024.
