British police, Jews (archive)
British police, Jews (archive)Reuters

There has been a 61 percent increase in anti-Semitic crime in Britain in the last year, according to the statistics released by the Met Police on Thursday and published by the Jewish News Online website.

A total of 483 anti-Semitic crimes were committed up until November 2015, increasing from 299 crimes from November 2014.

Hotspots included Westminster where there was a 178 percent increase, the London Borough of Hackney where there were 122 crimes, Tower Hamlets which had a 100 percent rise and Lambeth which had a 200 percent increase, according to the Jewish News Online.

Speaking to the Jewish News, the Met police said they are “committed to tackling hate crime in all its forms”, adding that they “take positive action to investigate all hate crime allegations, support victims and their families and bring perpetrators to justice.”

They noted that “there has been a rise in faith/religious hate crime, however the MPS believes these increases are down to a range of factors, including the improvements in crime recording, a growing willingness of victims to report hate crime; and an improved awareness of MPS staff to identify these offences.”

“We continue to speak regularly with local synagogues, and also work closely with organisations representing different faiths regarding hate crime issues, such as the Community Security Trust [CST] for anti-Semitic hate crime,” the officials told the Jewish News.

The latest numbers are a continuation of a surge in hate crimes in Britain and specifically in London, where there have been dozens of anti-Semitic attacks in recent years.

Recent events include the shutting down of a swanky London nightclub after several fights culminated in a brawl involving anti-Semitic slurs aimed at group of Jewish patrons.

In October, a series of anti-Semitic incidents occurred in one day in London's Stamford Hill, which is home to a large Jewish population.