UK police have been given more time to question four people arrested on suspicion of terror offences after an attack on a Manchester synagogue on Thursday, which left two people dead.
Two other people who had been arrested were released without charge.
Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, was shot dead by police on Thursday outside the Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue in Manchester after he rammed a car into pedestrians, attacked them with a knife and tried to force his way into the building.
Congregation members Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53, died in the attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.
Police say Daulby was accidentally shot by an armed officer as he and other congregants barricaded the synagogue to block Al-Shamie from entering.
Three other men are hospitalised with serious injuries.
Detectives say Al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian origin who lived in Manchester, may have been influenced by "extreme Islamist ideology".
He wore what appeared to be an explosives belt, which was found to be fake.
Police said that Al-Shamie was on bail over an alleged rape at the time of the attack, but had not been charged.
Three men and three women were arrested in the greater Manchester area on suspicion of the "commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism", as police worked to determine whether the attacker acted alone.
A court on Saturday granted police five more days to hold four of the suspects: two men aged 30 and 32, and two women aged 46 and 61.
An 18-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man were released with no further action, police said.
Police have not identified those arrested or disclosed their links to Al-Shamie.
The attack has devastated Britain's Jewish community and intensified debate about the line between criticism of Israel and antisemitism.
Recorded antisemitic incidents in the UK have risen sharply since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and Israel's ensuing campaign against Hamas in Gaza, according to Community Security Trust, a charity that provides advice and protection for British Jews.
Some politicians and religious leaders claimed pro-Palestinian demonstrations, which have been held regularly since the war in Gaza began, had played a role in spreading hatred of Jews.
Some also say that the UK's recognition of a Palestinian state last month has emboldened antisemitism — a claim that the government rejects.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, the head of Orthodox Judaism in Britain, said that the attack was the result of "an unrelenting wave of Jew hatred" on the streets and online.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators were held in Manchester and London on Saturday despite objections from police and politicians.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said that organisers should "recognise and respect the grief of British Jews this week" and postpone the protests.
About 100 people gathered in a central Manchester square in heavy rain, waving Palestinian flags and demanding an end to the war in Gaza.
In London, organisers said that about 1,000 people demonstrated against the banning of Palestine Action, a direct-action group that has vandalised British military planes and targeted sites with links to the Israeli military.
It has been labelled a terrorist organisation by the government, making support for the group illegal.
Police officers carried away a number of people who sat silently in Trafalgar Square holding signs saying "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action".
Police said they made at least 493 arrests.
AP
