British police were on Tuesday investigating a suspected arson attack on a London memorial wall that currently commemorates Iranians killed in anti-government protests in Iran.
The Metropolitan Police said the attack in Golders Green in north London took place shortly after midnight on Monday and did not damage the wall itself.
Golders Green is home to a large Jewish community, and there is a substantial Iranian diaspora living nearby in north London.
The memorial wall originally commemorated victims of the 7 October 2023 attack. But the space was gifted to the Iranian community, who have plastered it with pictures of victims of Iran’s crackdown on protesters.
Police said they received a report on Monday evening about a fire there earlier that day.
Counter terrorism officers were investigating, but it was “not being treated as a terrorist incident”, and they were keeping an open mind on the motive.
No arrests had yet been made, police said.
“We recognise that this incident will heighten concerns in the Golders Green area,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams, adding the police were working closely with community leaders.
In March, an attack in Golders Green destroyed four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity parked near a synagogue.
This has been followed by a spate of similar incidents, mainly targeting venues in the capital linked to Israel or Jewish people, but also including an attempted arson attack on a Persian-language opposition television channel.
Police have arrested 26 people for the various attacks launched since the start of the war on Iran on 28 February.
Many of the incidents have been claimed by a little-known group, believed to be linked to Iran, the Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) group, meaning The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand.
Police also said Tuesday that they had released two men arrested over the discovery this month of “jars of a non-hazardous substance” in Kensington Gardens, a park near the Israeli embassy.
The park was closed to the public on 17 April while police forensics officers worked there, an AFP photographer saw.
Police said one man was released without charge and another, arrested Sunday in Devon in southwest England, was released on bail.
