'Beware of Jews' sign appears in Stamford Hill

The road sign appeared on a lamppost near a synagogue in Stamford Hill, north London

A road sign which appears to warn "beware of Jews" has appeared just yards from a synagogue in north London. The sign depicts the silhouette of an orthodox Jewish man wearing a traditional Fedora hat and was spotted on a lamppost in Stamford Hill on Tuesday. A member of a Jewish neighbourhood watch group saw the sign and reported it to police.

Hackney Council is expected to remove it on Wednesday morning. Barry Bard, of Jewish neighbourhood group Shomrim NE London, said it was the first known sighting of such a sign, which had caused alarm in the local community due to its meticulous planning.

He said: "The people of Stamford Hill are very sadly used to instances of anti-Semitic hate crime, but most of those times it will be verbal abuse or even assault.

"The person who planned [this sign] has obviously gone to an effort to cause alarm and distress to local people."

Shadow home secretary and MP for Hackney North Diane Abbott said it was "disgusting" and "unacceptable", while Labour's MP for Tottenham David Lammy said it amounted to "despicable, nasty behaviour that has absolutely no place in our community."