CST calls for more security volunteers

THE COMMUNITY Security Trust has urged British Jews to “step up” and volunteer for security duties in the wake of the London Bridge terror attack that left eight people dead and dozens more injured.

CST chief executive David Delew said that three attacks in such a short space of time — with Islamist-inspired terrorists also striking in Westminster and Manchester in the past three months — meant there was an urgent need for further assistance from within the community to ensure obvious Jewish targets remain protected.

He said: “What we need right now is for people to step up and join CST as security volunteers.”

The plea for further assistance from the community emerged as Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis called for all Londoners to “stand defiant” after the London Bridge attack.

The Chief Rabbi said: “We will not be cowed or intimidated, nor will we allow our commitment to the values of peace and tolerance to be diminished.

“In the face of every attack, however devastating, we must continue to cleave ever closer to these values because ultimately they are what will defeat the evil of terror.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks and pledged: “We stand with the British people at this time.

In the immediate aftermath, extra police patrols were seen in the Stamford Hill area of London, which has a large number of strictly Orthodox residents.

Last Saturday’s attack — which has raised questions over the surveillance methods used by British security services to monitor jihadist activity — saw countless acts of heroism by the police and ambulance services, as well as from the general public.

Three men, later named as Youssef Zaghba, 22, Rachid Redouane, 30, and Khuram Butt, 27, leapt from a white van after it ploughed into pedestrians on London Bridge at around 10.20pm, before going on to attack members of the public on the street and in a restaurant and pubs with machete-like knives.

Police responded with huge force and shot the attackers dead within eight minutes, but the attacks led to chaotic scenes in the area and in nearby Borough Market.

The attackers had worn fake suicide belts sparking fears that could cause even more devastation and leading to counter-terror police firing 50 rounds of ammunition to kill the three males.

Scott Warren, a hairdresser and Maccabi GB football coach had been celebrating his 10th wedding anniversary with his wife Stacey at a restaurant in the nearby Shard skyscraper when the attack begun near his parked Mini car.

Mr Warren told the JC:”We were literally paying our bill for food in the restaurant at the Shard when you could see outside that something had happened.

“We couldn’t leave for a bit because the Shard was put on lockdown.

“But eventually we were allowed out