David Lammy was booed and heckled today as he spoke at a vigil for the Manchester terror attack victims.
The Deputy Prime Minister had to pause his speech multiple times due to persistent heckling from the crowd assembled on Middleton Road in Crumpsall.
The event was held following the killing of two people at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue on Thursday morning.
During his introduction at the vigil, Mr Lammy, also serving as the Justice Secretary, was met with boos and calls of ‘shame on you’, ‘go to Palestine, leave us alone’.
Others in the crowd were heard saying: ‘You’ve allowed it to grow on campuses’, and ‘you have blood on your hands’.
Later on during Mr Lammy’s speech, one person was heard to shout: ‘Empty words, we want action.’
The tragic incident on Thursday claimed the lives of Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, leaving three others hospitalized with severe injuries, and it coincided with Yom Kippur, the most sacred day in Judaism.
Jihad Al-Shamie, the attacker, was fatally shot by police seven minutes after reports came in of him driving into people and stabbing a man outside the synagogue.
One of the congregants was killed, and another was hurt when armed police accidentally shot them while stopping the knife-armed terrorist from entering the synagogue.
David Lammy was booed today as he spoke at a vigil for the Manchester terror attack victims
A woman shouts during a vigil organised by the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester
Mr Lammy told Friday’s vigil near the site of the synagogue attack that ‘we must stand in grief, in solidarity and in defiance’.
He emphasized the need for unity, saying, ‘we must stand together’ in mourning for the innocent lives lost so tragically—senseless murders executed on Yom Kippur, a day sacred to the Jewish community, causing immense pain and suffering’.
‘Today our hearts, our thoughts, our prayers must be with the families of those who were killed,’ Mr Lammy added.
‘And of course, with this community, this Jewish community, both here in Manchester and in Heaton Park synagogue.’Â
The Deputy PM continued: ‘Right across our nation, and as the MP for Tottenham, I know the suffering in Crumpsall is all the same as the pain, the worry and the frightened faces in my own constituency and in the area of Stamford Hill – one of the historic homes of the Jewish community in this country.
‘In that sense, London and Manchester are twin communities grieving as one, and the whole nation is with them.’
The Deputy PM told the crowd ‘we stand in solidarity with the Jewish people, because an attack like this is never felt alone’.
He added: ‘Wherever you are in our country, Jewish people, our friends, our neighbours, our loved ones are terrified by the events of yesterday – of becoming targets, victims of antisemitic hate, simply for who they are.
‘But I know this about Britain’s Jewish community, a community I have known all of my life.
‘You are strong, you are resilient, and you will never be cowed, and that’s what I want you to know today – that our country, those of all colours, all faiths and none, stand with you.’
In his own speech at the vigil, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said: ‘We care about you, we love you, we value what you have given to Greater Manchester over the years.
‘An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.
‘That is the permanent principle, the firm foundation on which this city region has been built, by you by us, by everyone here over centuries, that is who we are, and we will not let this break us in any way, shape, or form.
‘I salute the strength of our Jewish community.’
