Man held over 'race' stabbing

The man was attacked in Stamford Hill, north London

Police are questioning an Algerian man over a suspected racist attack on an Orthodox Jew in north London.

David Myers, 20, was stabbed several times as he travelled on the top deck of a number 253 bus in Stamford Hill, home to a large Jewish orthodox community.

He is said to be in a serious, but stable, condition following the apparently unprovoked attack.

I tried to ask him what had happened but he was too weak to say

Volvi Cooperstein, witness

His assailant escaped from the bus after threatening the driver, and was chased down the street by a witness before jumping on another bus.

Another passenger with a mobile phone alerted the police, who arrested the 27-year-old suspect on a bus near Seven Sisters station.

Witness Volvi Cooperstein, who works at a Stamford Hill bakery, said he saw the attacker calmly put a hunting knife in his pocket as he left the bus.

Mr Cooperstein said he grabbed a first-aid kit and attempted to tend Mr Myers' injuries.

"It was shocking," he said. "He was soaked in blood and had deep wounds in his forehead and his chest.

"He looked like a proper Orthodox Jew with a full beard.

"I tried to ask him what had happened but he was too weak to say."

State of alert

Mr Myers is said to be a student at the Yeshiva University in Gateshead, where he is studying the Hebrew religious text, the Torah.

He had travelled to London to celebrate the Jewish festival of Succot.

Jewish leaders in north London said the community had been on a state of alert since the outbreak of violence in the Middle East.

But they said they did not know whether the stabbing had any links to the current unrest between Israelis and Palestinians.