By Peter John
An investigation has been launched after a suspected arson attack on ambulances belonging to the Jewish Community Ambulance service in north London, the Metropolitan Police has said.
Four Hatzolah ambulances were set on fire at around 01:45 GMT on Monday in Golders Green, the Met Police said.
Police and fire crew remained at the scene and the incident was being treated as an “antisemitic hate crime”, police added.
Hatzolah is a large non-profit, volunteer organisation that provides Jewish people emergency medical response and transportation to hospitals for free.
It has served the North London community of Golders Green, which has a large Jewish population, since 1979.
Supt Sarah Jackson, who leads policing in the area, said: “We know this incident will cause a great deal of community concern and officers remain on scene to carry out urgent enquiries.
“We are in the process of examining CCTV and are aware of online footage. We believe we are looking for three suspects at this early stage.”
There have been no arrests so far, police said. Anyone with information has been urged to come forward.
One local resident told the BBC at the scene that he had heard an “explosion” shortly after 01:30 GMT and that “four ambulances” were on fire.
“We’ve all been woken up… by arsonists targeting the ambulances in our community”, they said.
