New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Friday that police presence in some Brooklyn neighbourhoods would be increased following several suspected anti-Semitic attacks.
More officers will be seen in Borough Park, Crown Heights and Williamsburg, all areas with large Jewish populations, de Blasio said in a tweet.
Police will also increase visits to houses of worship and “other critical areas in the community,” he said.
“Anyone who terrorizes our Jewish community WILL face justice.
“Anti-Semitism is an attack on the values of our city — and we will confront it head-on,” the mayor tweeted.
The announcement followed multiple possible anti-Semitic incidents in the city during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah this week.
On Monday in Manhattan, a 65-year-old man was punched, kicked, and verbally abused by another man, news outlet CNN reported, citing the New York police department.
Also on Monday, teenagers reportedly struck two young boys in a residential building in Brooklyn.
Two separate incidents in Brooklyn on Tuesday involved a group of people allegedly yelling anti-Jewish slurs at a 25-year-old man and a group punching a 56-year-old man, CNN reported.
The mayor on Wednesday tweeted that police were investigating the incidents.
“The despicable crimes committed against our Jewish community over the last 24 hours are an attack on ALL New Yorkers,” de Blasio said.
On Thursday, police charged a woman with assault as a hate crime after she allegedly hit a Jewish woman, 34, with her bag in front of the victim’s small child, according to CNN.
