Boy charged with arson in connection with attack on synagogue in northwest London

A boy has been charged with arson after a synagogue was attacked in northwest London.

The 17-year-old, a British national from Brent who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been charged with arson not endangering life.

It follows an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing London into the attack on Saturday in Harrow.

The Metropolitan Police said the boy has been remanded in custody to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

The charge comes after a 19-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy were arrested at separate addresses late on Sunday 19 April.

Both were arrested on suspicion of arson reckless as to whether life was endangered and were taken to a London police station.

The man has been bailed pending further enquiries.

Police said the charge relates to an alleged arson attack at around 11.35pm on Saturday at Kenton United Synagogue in Shaftsbury Avenue, Harrow.

At around midnight, officers from the Met Police who were conducting security checks at local synagogues came across what they identified as a crime scene and alerted the London Fire Brigade.

The force said that while minor damage was caused, no one was injured.

A number of Jewish sites have been targeted in separate incidents across ​London in recent weeks.

The Met Police have been investigating alleged attacks, which have not been linked, at the former site of a Jewish charity in Hendon on Friday, and a synagogue in Finchley on Wednesday.

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Both those incidents are near Golders Green, where four Jewish community ambulances operated by volunteer-led service Hatzola were torched in an alleged arson attack last month.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, a security incident was triggered near the Israeli embassy in central London after jars of powder, later identified as harmless, were discovered in a park.

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