Jessica Rawnsley,
Alex Smithand
Lucy Manning,Special correspondent
James Manning/PA Wire
The victims of a mass shooting during an event marking Hanukkah at Australia’s Bondi Beach have been remembered at events around the UK.
Police forces in England and Scotland have said they are increasing their visibility among Jewish communities, as events celebrating the religious holiday get under way.
Fifteen people, including a child, were killed during the Bondi shooting, officials have said, in an attack targeting members of the Jewish community.
A crowd of around 100 people gathered outside the Australian High Commission in central London for a vigil on Sunday evening.
People could be seen waving British and Israeli flags, while some held signs reading: “Stop the Hate”.
Speaking at the vigil, the rabbi for Marylebone, Yisroel Lew, lit a menorah and said: “After hearing what happened this morning, the first thought was – how can we bring more light?
“Don’t be afraid and celebrate Hanukkah.”
Just down the road in Trafalgar Square, a large menorah was lit up to mark the first day of the festival.
Hundreds of people also attended Hanukkah events in north-west London on Sunday with music and dancing – and an increased police presence.
Present at one of them was Chanie Simon, who went to school with Rabbi Eli Schlanger, among those killed in the Sydney shooting. She described the 41-year-old victim as a “father in the prime of his life”.
“We are reeling in pain,” she told the BBC. “But we are going around and carrying on to make the world a bigger and better place, bringing acts of goodness, acts of light, because that’s what the world needs.
“It’s awful but we aren’t going to let terror stop us.”
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The BBC also spoke to Joseph Sassoon who said: “I’m saddened that Jewish people have to be afraid in this day and age”. He added: “Years after the Holocaust and Jews are still being murdered.”
London-born Rabbi Eli, a father of five, was described as a “caring, vivacious, energetic, outgoing guy who loved people” by his cousin, Rabbi Zalman Lewis.
Speaking to the BBC earlier in the day, he said people should “spread light” by doing charitable acts in Rabbi Schlanger’s name: “I kn
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