Salford had the third highest number of violent antisemitic assaults in the country last year, with only Barnet and Hackney in London recording more, according to a new report.
Last year, the city accounted for almost 10 per cent of all violent antisemitic assaults in England.
The report released by the Community Security Trust (CST) reveals shocking statistics about hate crime around the country, ranging from social media abuse to physical violence.
Despite the efforts and wide array of events that took place around the country for Hate Crime Awareness Week last week, hate crime in Salford is an issue that has not gone away.
“I remember them saying: ‘dirty Jew, Hitler was right’.”
Raymond Solomon, treasurer of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and Region based in Broughton, spoke about hate crime, drawing on his own experiences and shining a light on the thoughts of the Jewish community in Salford.
He said: “The Jewish community feel threatened. All the Jewish schools, synagogues and major communal areas have security guards outside.
“Does any other religion do that? It is because there are threats.
“So much to say that the British Government funds part of the money to operate the CST, because they are fully aware of the threats.
“Thank goodness there has not been any major incidents recently. But, you know, having swastikas put on Jewish shops and things like that.
“It’s upsetting and you’ve got hundreds of survivors in the area.”
Mr Solomon, who was born in Prestwich and attended Salford Grammar School, was the victim of a violent hate crime when he was a young boy in the 1960s on his way to school.
Mr Solomon remembers the comments just as well as the kicks.
He said: “They didn’t rob me, they didn’t steal my satchel. I remember them saying: ‘dirty Jew, Hitler was right’. It was pretty brutal.
“So after that happened, I always said to myself that some day, when I’m an adult, I’m going to fight back and do whatever I can. I still get emotional thinking about it.
“That ties into who I am today. So a lot of things I’ve done has been because of that moment.
“It’s not only fighting anti-semitism. It’s fighting all kinds of racism as well, because I saw how easy it is to pick on someone, whether it’s physically or whether it is something subtle like leaving you out the school football team.”
Despite the attack happening more than 50 years ago, it is still relevant today considering incidents of violent anti-semitic assaults in the country have been on the rise since 2015. CST’s 2019 incident report recorded a 25 per cent increase in 2019 compared to the 126 violent assaults around the country in 2018.
“It’s all ignorance, even today. Nothing has changed about that. We’re totally misunderstood,” said Mr Solomon.
“There is a lot of ignorance about Jewish people, and it’s passed on from generation to generation.”
Speaking about what can be done to combat hate crime, Mr Solomon reiterated one main point.
He said: “It’s education, it has to be education. A lot of the things that we do in the Jewish representative, we go out in the community and sit down with people and just come talk to them.
“There is a Jewish Museum in Manchester. It’s closed right now for renovations. Schools are encouraged to come to the museum which used to be a synagogue.
“For many people, they have never seen a Jewish person in their life. The staff will explain to them what goes on and about Judaism.”
Whilst Mr Solomon’s experiences relate solely to his religion – hate crime also means crimes that target someone because of hostility or prejudice to that person’s race, a disability they may have, their sexual orientation or transgender identity.
True Vision, an organisation devoted to stopping hate crime, also states on its website: “A victim does not have to be a member of the group at which the hostility is targeted. In fact, anyone could be a victim of a hate crime.”
What can you do to report hate crime?
The map below indicates all the hate crime reporting centres in Salford.
Below are details of more support services from Salford City Council website:
Greater Manchester Victims’ Services offers support for anyone affected by any type of crime in Salford. This includes 24 hour telephone support, face to face support, practical support, information provision and safety advice, advocacy, onward referrals into specialist support, and help for parents of victims in supporting their children. To get in touch, call 0161 200 1950 (9am to 7pm), 0808 168 9111 (24/7) or email greater.manchester@victimsupport.org.uk. An interpreter service is available. To find out more about how this service is dealing with crime, including hate crimes in Salford, you can visit the website here.
Europia provides a range of support to European ex-pats, including help for those affected by hate crime. To get in touch, call 0333 3058 570, email hello@europia.org.uk or visit the Europia website.
Stop Hate UK, 24 hour helpline – 0800 138 1625
Tell MAMA, monitoring and reporting Anti-Muslim hate crime – 0800 456 1226
Refugee Action
Fouth floor, Dale House, 35 Dale Street, Manchester, M1 2HF
Telephone: 0800 917 2719 or 0161 233 1200
LGBT Foundation
Princess House, 5 Richmond Street, M1 3HF
Telephone: 0845 330 3030
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