Manchester attack raises fears of more violence and division across faiths

By Sam Tabahriti

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) -In the wake of a deadly attack outside a synagogue in the northern English city of Manchester on Thursday, both Jewish and Muslim residents said they feared a rise in retaliatory violence and deepening divisions.

Jihad al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British man of Syrian descent, drove a car into pedestrians and then began stabbing several people on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, outside Manchester’s Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue. Two men died in the attack.

As the Jewish community mourned the loss of life and questioned their future in Britain, Muslim residents expressed concern about being unfairly targeted.

FEELING OF INCREASED ISOLATION

“Yesterday, our worst fears came true,” Marc Levy, head of the Jewish L