Hackney Council has removed an artist’s ‘beware of Jews’ sign after accusations his project was ‘out of order’.
The fake road sign portrayed a picture of an Orthodox Jewish man as part of a wider project on identity by artist Franck Allais that included signs with a variety of different images.
Mr Allais’ project was located in London’s Stamford Hill neighbourhood that is home to one of the largest Hasidic communities in Europe.
The Jewish neighbourhood watch group Shomrim reported the sign to the police and to Hackney Council who subsequently had it removed.
#Shomrim reported to @MPSHackney and @HackneyCouncil this offensive 'Beware of Jews' sign which was fixed onto a lamppost in #StamfordHill pic.twitter.com/mj8AfQTSSu
— Shomrim N.E. London (@Shomrim) March 14, 2017
‘The council has had to remove several pieces of anti-Semitic graffiti in recent months, so it is entirely understandable that residents were offended by the sign featured in the media reports,’ said Cllr Caroline Selman, cabinet member for community safety and enforcement.
In an interview with the journalist Jonathan Savage, Rabbi Herschel Gluck described the sign as ‘disturbing’ and ‘out of order.’
I've just interviewed Rabbi Herschel Gluck of @Shomrim pic.twitter.com/vxftBvGuCO
— Jonathan Savage (@JSavageTweets) March 15, 2017
