Transport for London is investigating after a schoolgirl allegedly shouted “Jew, Jew” and made gestures towards JW3 while travelling on a 113 bus in north-west London.
The incident was witnessed by DJ and presenter Edward Adoo, who told Jewish News he intervened after seeing the behaviour unfold on the top deck of the busy bus on Friday afternoon.
Adoo said several schoolgirls boarded the bus near a local school in St John’s Wood between around 2.45pm and 3pm.
“As we went past JW3… they started giggling,” he said. “All I heard her say was ‘Jew, Jew’ and then she made some kind of gesture towards the centre.”
Adoo said he then noticed a visibly Jewish man wearing a kippah sitting a few rows ahead.
“What was more upsetting for me was that straight away there was a Jewish gentleman who was sitting probably three rows ahead. I just felt for the gentleman. I thought this was not right.”
He said he initially hesitated before responding because the girl appeared to be a school pupil.
“It took me five minutes just to think,” he said. “I was thinking, look, first of all, she’s a schoolgirl.”
But after one of the girls later pointed towards the Jewish passenger while leaving the bus, Adoo decided to intervene.
“I said, ‘I saw what you did when the bus went past the JW3 centre. That is disgusting. You were being antisemitic. You need to be more respectful to people.’”
Adoo later apologised to the Jewish passenger, who he said appeared to be “shocked” but thanked him before continuing his journey.
The broadcaster also informed the bus driver before later reporting the incident to the police, Metroline and CST.
