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(CNN) - Police in London are investigating anti-Semitic graffiti found scrawled in stores, restaurants and a synagogue as a possible hate crime.
The images of the star of David and messages apparently related to the September 11 attacks were painted on buildings in the north of the city on Saturday night, authorities said.
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"This is clearly a worrying incident and we are taking it seriously," Inspector Kev Hailes said in a statement. "We have contacted our partners to eliminate graffiti and several investigations are underway to determine who is responsible."
According to the statement, no arrests have yet been made.
Sickened by the anti-Semitic graffiti on walls all over Hampstead and Belsize Park this morning. All decent people across Britain stand with our Jewish community - and we must move heaven and earth to eradicate this racist hatred, which was unimaginable just a few years ago. pic.twitter.com/Pfr8ZBIJax
- Oliver Cooper (@OliverCooper) December 29, 2019
Residents posted online photos of the graffiti, which appeared in several different places in the Hampstead and Belsize Park areas.
The South Hampstead synagogue, located in a part of London with a large Jewish population, was also attacked.
James Sorene, executive president of the Israel Communications and Research Center in Britain, said on Twitter that the goals include an "Israeli-style coffee" that recently closed.
The numbers "911" refer to the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that the Jewish people were responsible for the September 11 attacks in New York, Sorene added, describing graffiti as "chilling."
Reports of anti-Semitic incidents have skyrocketed in the United Kingdom this year, according to the charity Community Security Trust that monitors anti-Semitism in Britain.
The group said there were 892 incidents recorded in the first six months of 2019, an increase of 10% compared to the same period last year and the highest number for the same period since records began in 1984.
The incidents in London occurred on the same day that five people were stabbed at a Hanukkah celebration in New York.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the stabbing was "the last of a series of attacks against members of the Jewish community in New York this week."
Anti-Semitism Hate Crime London
