Violent attacks on British Jews hit record high

Violent anti-Semitic attacks in Britain have reached "alarming" record levels, according to a report, prompting calls by Jewish leaders for more to be done to protect their community.

The Community Safety Trust, which represents Britain's 290,000-strong Jewish community on security matters, said on Thursday there had been 532 "anti-Semitic incidents" -- defined as malicious acts toward Jews -- in 2004, including a record 83 assaults.

The total, which included abuse and threats, was a rise of 42 percent from the CST's 2003 figure, and well above the previous record high of 405 in 2000.

Last month London police said they were hunting a group of black and Asian men said to be behind a string of racist attacks on orthodox Jewish men in the capital.

A few days earlier, vandals daubed swastikas and other Nazi symbols on 10 gravestones in a Jewish cemetery in Aldershot, southern England, the second time it had been targeted.

Violent attacks on British Jews hit record high