Manchester hospitals warning

People have been told to stay away from Manchester hospitals unless they have urgent or life-threatening conditions after a man was stabbed next to a synagogue. 

Police rushed to the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue at 9.31am today on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. 

Four people have been injured – with two believed to be dead – after a car was driven at a crowd and a man was stabbed, before the suspect was shot. 

Police said it had ‘declared Plato’ – the national code-word used by police and emergency services when responding to a ‘marauding terror attack’. 

A spokesperson for NHS Greater Manchester said: ‘We are aware of the incident currently unfolding in Crumpsall and are actively supporting the multi-agency response led by Greater Manchester Police and other emergency services.

‘Our priority is to ensure the safety and care of patients and staff across the region, and we are working closely with partners to manage any impact on local hospitals and emergency departments.

‘We urge the public to only attend Accident & Emergency (A&E) departments if your condition is urgent or life-threatening. This will help us prioritise care for those most in need and ensure emergency teams can respond effectively to this incident.

‘If you are unsure about which service to use, please contact NHS 111 online or by phone for guidance.’

An internal note by the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘Greater Manchester major incident declared – lockdown of our sites.’

The note, seen by the Manchester Evening News, says: ‘Please be advised that all our sites have been asked to immediately lock down following the declaration of a major incident within Greater Manchester.

‘We have been informed that emergency services are at the scene of an incident within Manchester. We will share further details as these become available.’

A witness outside Salford Royal hospital said the hospital was ‘on lockdown’ with no one allowed ‘in or out’.

Another patient inside Fairfield General has told local news that security are now staffing the doors. 

Video shared on social media appears to show armed police officers pointing guns at someone laying on the ground as one screams to onlookers: ‘Everyone move back, he has a bomb, go away.’ 

The person on the ground is seen starting to get up before there is the sound of a gunshot and they fall to the ground. Another person is also shown lying motionless on the ground outside the synagogue gates with blood around their head. 

A white lorry marked ‘bomb disposal’ later arrived at the scene, and went behind the cordon outside the synagogue. 

Police sources told the Daily Mail it was ‘too early’ to determine the attacker’s motivation. 

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: ‘I am horrified by the news of an attack at a synagogue in Manchester today, on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.’

Sir Keir Starmer, who will now fly home early from a meeting of European leaders to chair Cobra, said ‘additional police assets’ would now be sent to synagogues around the country. 

He said: ‘I’m appalled. The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific.’ 

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said one of the victims was a security guard who had been stabbed. He said the attacker is believed to be dead. 

‘My first thoughts are with the victims, our brave police and emergency services.’

Manchester has a Jewish population of more than 30,000, the highest in UK after London. 

Kemi Badenoch described the incident as a ‘vile and disgusting attack’ and called for the ‘rise in antisemitism that we’re seeing in our country’ to be ‘quelled completely’. 

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: ‘I am appalled not only by this brutal attack, but also by the evil that lies behind it.’

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said he was ‘horrified’. 

A short distance away from the synagogue, police officers armed with Heckler & Koch machine guns stood guard at the head of a path, between houses, leading up to the back of the synagogue.

Members of the Jewish community have been gathering around the police cordon, with some of them in tears. 

A number of black, unmarked police 4×4 vehicles and vans carrying plain clothes officers with face coverings were seen leaving the area of the incident at speed.

One victim was seen next to a Kia Picanto, which appeared to have been damaged by a collision. The vehicle was taxed – and passed its MOT around eight weeks ago. 

Immediately after the attack, one Jewish man said his wife and daughter and other members of the congregation were still inside the synagogue. 

He said: ‘It is the holiest day of the year and we get this. There is no place for Jews in Britain anymore. It’s over.’

A rabbi and head of the Rabbinic Court of Great Britain said fears which had already existed in the Jewish community due to heightened tensions in recent years following the October 7 Hamas attacks and Israel’s military action in Gaza, will now be further increased.

Rabbi Jonathan Romain, emeritus rabbi of Maidenhead Synagogue, told the PA news agency he felt ‘appalled’ by the attack in Manchester.

He said: ‘This is every Rabbi’s or every Jewish person’s worst nightmare.

‘Not only is this a sacred day, the most sacred in the Jewish calendar, but it’s also a time of mass gathering, and the time when the Jewish community, however religious or irreligious, gathers together.’

He said it appears tensions over the war in Gaza had ‘spilled over’ to the UK, despite efforts to stop that happening.

He said: ‘The real tragedy is, of course that the war in Gaza, which is tragic in itself, has sort of spilled over into the United Kingdom.

‘For the last two years, we were desperately trying to make sure that whatever was going on in the Middle East was not imported here. This has shown that our worst fears have been realised.

‘This will obviously heighten the fears that many Jews have had, that political violence would spill over into religious hatred.’

Earlier this year, the Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitism in the UK, said Jews were facing ‘more hatred and pressure’ than they have for decades after the organisation recorded more than 3,500 incidents in 2024.

Reports of antisemitism reached a record high in 2023 at 4,296 – the year that saw the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel and the subsequent military action in the region that has continued since.

A more recent report by the CST showed there were 1,521 antisemitic incidents across the UK in the first half of 2025.

This was the second highest total ever reported to the organisation in the first six months of any year, but it was down by a quarter from the record high of 2,019 incidents recorded between January and June 2024.