An Orthodox Jew was seriously ill in hospital after he was repeatedly stabbed in a racist attack in the heart of London's Jewish community, police said Tuesday.
Scotland Yard said he was attacked Monday evening on a bus in Stamford Hill, north London, by a man understood to be of "Mediterranean" appearance.
The knifeman escaped after threatening the driver and was chased down the street by a witness before jumping onto another bus.
A 27-year-old man was later arrested and was being questioned by police.
The victim was named by The Daily Telegraph as 20-year-old David Meyers, a student at the Yeshiva University in Gateshead, northeast England, where he is studying the Torah, Judaism's holy book.
He was in London to celebrate the Jewish festival of Succot.
Jewish leaders in north London said they had been on a state of alert since the outbreak of violence in the Middle East, but did not know if the stabbing was linked to the unrest between Israelis and Palestinians.
Witness Volvi Cooperstein, who works at a bakery in Stamford Hill, said he saw the attacker calmly putting a hunting knife into his pocket as he walked off the bus.
"He (the victim) looked like a proper Orthodox Jew with a full beard. It was shocking. He was soaked in blood and had deep wounds in his forehead and his chest," he said -- LONDON (AFP)
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