David Lammy was booed and heckled today as he spoke at a vigil for the Manchester terror attack victims.
The Deputy Prime Minister had his address interrupted as he faced persistent shouts from the crowd gathered on Middleton Road in Crumpsall.
The event was held following the killing of two people at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue on Thursday morning.
As he was introduced at the vigil, Mr Lammy – who is also the Justice Secretary – was booed and faced shouts of ‘shame on you’, ‘go to Palestine, leave us alone’.
Others in the crowd were heard saying: ‘You’ve allowed it to grow on campuses’, and ‘you have blood on your hands’.
Later on during Mr Lammy’s speech, one person was heard to shout: ‘Empty words, we want action.’
Uproar then resumed in the crowd as the Deputy PM said: ‘That is why we stand in defiance of those terrorists who seek to divide us’.
There were further shouts from attendees, and one man could be heard saying ‘you enabled it, every Saturday’.
The Justice Secretary continued: ‘We cannot, must not, let them divide us – we must show them who we really are, not what they want us to become or to believe.’
David Lammy was booed and heckled today as he spoke at a vigil for the Manchester terror attack victims
A woman shouts during a vigil organised by the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester
Attendees held a banner reading ‘No more words, we demand action’ during Friday’s vigil
Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, both died and three others remain in hospital with serious injuries following Thursday’s attack, which took place on Yom Kippur, Judaism’s holiest day.
Killer Jihad Al-Shamie was shot dead by police seven minutes after officers were called about the attacker ramming into people with a car and stabbing a man outside the synagogue.
One worshipper died and another was injured after they were accidentally shot by armed police while attempting to prevent the knife-wielding terrorist from entering the synagogue.
Mr Lammy told Friday afternoon’s vigil near the site of the synagogue attack that ‘we must stand in grief, in solidarity and in defiance’.
He said ‘we must stand together’ in ‘grief for the innocent lives that were taken so cruelly – senseless murders carried out on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish year, grief that causes so much pain and so much suffering’.
‘Today our hearts, our thoughts, our prayers must be with the families of those who were killed,’ Mr Lammy added.
‘And of course, with this community, this Jewish community, both here in Manchester and in Heaton Park synagogue.’
The Deputy PM continued: ‘Right across our nation, and as the MP for Tottenham, I know the suffering in Crumpsall is all the same as the pain, the worry and the frightened faces in my own constituency and in the area of Stamford Hill – one of the historic homes of the Jewish community in this country.
‘In that sense, London and Manchester are twin communities grieving as one, and the whole nation is with them.’
The Deputy PM told the crowd ‘we stand in solidarity with the Jewish people, because an attack like this is never felt alone’.
He added: ‘Wherever you are in our country, Jewish people, our friends, our neighbours, our loved ones are terrified by the events of yesterday – of becoming targets, victims of antisemitic hate, simply for who they are.
‘But I know this about Britain’s Jewish community, a community I have known all of my life.
‘You are strong, you are resilient, and you will never be cowed, and that’s what I want you to know today – that our country, those of all colours, all faiths and none, stand with you.’
Mr Lammy said ‘we all feel terrorism’ and used the example of his ‘best childhood friend’ who was ‘blown to smithereens’ in the July 7 2005 London bombings.
‘We stand with you against those who think bombs and blasts will break us, we stand against all states who would minimise or coddle or obfuscate on anti-Jewish hate,’ he said.
‘We know terrorism in this country. We know it, of course, in this city – we saw it at the arena, and we have seen it in Heaton Park.
‘We all know terrorism, we all feel terrorism – my best friend from childhood, James Adams, was blown to smithereens in the 7/7 bombings.
‘And I vow to you, every Christian, every Muslim, every Jew, every Mancunian, every Brit: We will never stop fighting it.’
Attendees at the vigil stood in the Manchester rain to listen to speakers
In his own speech at the vigil, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said: ‘We care about you, we love you, we value what you have given to Greater Manchester over the years.
‘An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.
‘That is the permanent principle, the firm foundation on which this city region has been built, by you by us, by everyone here over centuries, that is who we are, and we will not let this break us in any way, shape, or form.
‘I salute the strength of our Jewish community.’
Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Sir Stephen Watson, told the vigil: ‘I can pledge to you that GMP are with you as one in continuing relentlessly, professionally, ruthlessly, all of those who would harm our Jewish community and other communities across Greater Manchester where hate is the originator of their intent.’
He praised the Community Security Trust, saying they are ‘the embodiment of our mutual determination to keep our communities safe and for you to have your absolute God-given right to live your Jewish lives as you’re entitled to do in our country’.
Closing the vigil, Rabbi Daniel Walker, from the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, said: ‘I want to say thank you again to those special and heroic men who stopped that terrorist getting into my shul and stopped much worse things happening.
‘I want to say thank you to emergency services, first of all, to the police, who came to our aid at the time of our greatest need, who were there for us.
‘The fire service, the ambulance service, those who tended to the wounded. to all those who have helped us and supported us through this most terrible and darkest time.
‘Adrian and Melvin died as Jews for being Jews. The only way to defeat darkness, the only way to defeat unholiness, is with goodness.’