Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood were subjected to “loud, sustained” booing as arrived in Golders Green, the scene of a terrorist attack this week.

There are signs of serious discontent among Britain’s Jewish community in the wake of a series of terrorist and criminal attacks against Jewish targets in recent months, with senior representatives of the state including the Prime Minister, Home Secretary (interior minister), and chief of the Metropolitan Police all booed when visiting the Golders Green neighbourhood for press conferences and photo-calls. Meanwhile, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has called on the government to heed his longstanding demands that radical Islamist elements in society be dealt with by the state, including by banning extremist groups.

On Wednesday, a Somali migrant now identified as 45-year-old Essa Suleiman allegedly went on a knife rampage in the Golders Green area, stabbing two Jewish men before being tackled by police and local Jewish security volunteers.

The protests against the government in response to Wednesday’s stabbings, which police are calling a potential terror attack, were historically unusual for the United Kingdom, where the public responses to mass casualty incidents and terror attacks are rarely left alone to be spontaneous. For decades, what is seen in public has been generally gently guided from behind the scenes by specially trained police officers and other government figures, which is reckoned by Whitehall as key to prevent further bloodshed in recriminations, or even all-out race riots.

But such displays are becoming more common. As reported, top government and police figures were booed after the deadly Manchester Synagogue attack last year, and Prime Minister Starmer was aggressively heckled after the Southport attacks in 2024.

Now on Wednesday afternoon when the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis Sir Mark Rowley visited the scene of the Golders Green attack to talk to cameras he was loudly booed, which interrupted his remarks on several occasions. Following him was the local Member of Parliament, who also struggled to be heard over a chorus of angry voices. Today, the Prime Minister and Home Secretary also arrived for their own photo opportunity, and again were met by angry voices.

Guido Fawkes published footage of the arrival and characterised it as “loud, sustained boos”. The Daily Telegraph said the Prime Minister was heckled with shouts of “traitor” and “shame on you”, and the Independent stated the same mood persisted when it was time for the Prime Minister to leave again a short time after, and that his motorcade was jeered as it left.

On both days, an ongoing spontaneous demonstration has sprung up in Golders Green, with attendees demanding resignations and that the government stop talking about fighting antisemitism, and start doing it. Banners, placards, and chants at the protest include messages such as “Keir Starmer Jew Harmer”, “Anti-Zionism = Terrorism”, “Mark Rowley, resign now”,  and “Shame on Sadiq Khan”. A banner showing 1930s German soldiers attacking Jews included the legend: “are we really here again? Stop the new hate movement”.

Even more unusually, one of the victims was able to speak out and criticise the government in the immediate aftermath of the attack. Speaking to broadcaster ITV from his hospital bed, 34-year-old Shloime Rand said the government was failing. Of the situation among the Jewish community, Rand said:

People are really concerned, people are afraid, people are uncomfortable walking in the street, people are blaming obviously the government for not doing anything about what’s going on… It’s for the past few months really that our community is suffering from these type of attacks. And now it’s going on and trying to take people’s lives and it’s really terrible.

He also said:

I definitely feel like the government has let us down… definitely [hold the government resp0onsible], the streets of London are not safe for Jewish people. There is definitely the government, they are the ones who can take care of the problems, and they are not doing their job.

On Thursday, it was revealed that suspect 45-year-old Essa Suleiman, who was arrested at the scene, had previously been referred to the UK government’s counter-extremism programme Prevent, and that he had come to the United Kingdom legally as a Somali migrant and was later given a British passport. He is understood to have “serious violence and mental health issues” and is being investigated by police as a potential perpetrator of a third attack earlier on Wednesday in Southwark, south east London.

Officers said they had been called to Great Dover Street on Wednesday morning, which links Borough High Street to the Old Kent Road, and is mainly residential with a smattering of other premises, including a Catholic School, offices of the Probation Service, and pubs. Police said a man armed with a knife had an “altercation” at a domestic address on the road, which led to the occupant receiving “minor injuries”. It is alleged Suleiman was previously jailed for stabbing a police officer and the officer’s dog.

As well as the Prime Minister, Home Secretary, and chief of police, several other political figures have also travelled to Golders Green and met with the local community. One was Brexit pioneer and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who addressed a crowd while standing besides one of the Shomrim Jewish security volunteers who assisted the police in disabling and arresting the suspect on Wednesday. Of that community security charity, Mr Farage said: “I’ve just met the boys from Shomrim who of course were first on the ground… a little bit of central funding wouldn’t go amiss. These are brave boys, they were the first going in yesterday at great risk to themselves.”

Referring to the attack and the government’s failure to act, Mr Farage said:

…what happened here yesterday; shocking, appalling awful, but in many ways I’m afraid unsurprising. We know the growth of hatred, antisemitism, a two-tier approach to speech, behaviour, has allowed and encouraged much of this… every time this happens we get statements from the Prime Minister of his thoughts, his love and prayers, are with the Jewish community. But frankly we’ve been no action of any kind at all.

… I’m afraid we have allowed marches to take place with chants being heard over the streets of London and other cities, we have not acted. The government has been weak, weak, weak. I’m not pretending we can reverse of hatred overnight, we can’t. It’s here, it’s embedded, it’s going to be a threat — we’ve got to be frank about this — for many, many years to come. The time has come for firm resolve, for government action, to say what is the difference between what is right and what is wrong, regardless of the electoral consequences in one or two big inner city [areas] in this country.

Mr Farage made recommendations for immediate action, some of which he said he’d been calling for in public for years. Iran’s IRGC terror group and the Muslim Brotherhood should be banned, Mr Farage said, noting they push a “very dangerous radical agenda… an organisation that tries its best to spread terrorism”. He also called for the Iranian embassy to be closed and said that a government under his control would deport the perpetrator of the Golders Green attack.

Such calls on the government to actually do something are mounting, with international observers expressing dismay at the British state’s general approach of strongly worded statements followed by nothing. As reported earlier:

The Isareli Foreign Ministry said in a statement that there have been “enough words” about antisemitism in Britain, and that “The UK must act decisively and urgently”. They said:

After attacks on synagogues, Jewish institutions, community ambulances and now Jews targeted in Golders Green, the UK government can no longer claim this is under control.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s statements are no substitute for confronting the roots of antisemitism festering across United Kingdom. British Jews should not need security patrols and emergency volunteers to live openly as Jews.

Britain’s Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis also said the time for talk is over. He said:

Following the anti-Semitic stabbing of two Jewish people on the streets of Golders Green this morning, words of condemnation are no longer sufficient. This must be a moment that demands meaningful action from every institution, every community, every leader and every decent person in our country. This is a hatred that we must face down together.

President Trump’s special envoy on antisemitism Ambassador Yehuda Kaploun hit the same notes, adding:

Heartbroken and outraged by another violent anti-Semitic attack – again in the UK. Enough is enough. The UK must take decisive action to ensure the safety and security of Jewish communities now.