Jewish Museum in London evacuated over bomb threat

Children from two different schools were some of the 100 people hurried out of building

The museum was evacuated for no longer than an hour

(Oli Scarff/Getty)

Children on a school trip were evacuated from the Jewish Museum in London after a bomb threat.

Around 100 people, including parties from two school, were ushered out of the site in Camden at around midday after a peculiar phone call.

A spokesman for the museum said the building was cleared “as a precaution following a security alert”.

The spokesman said: “We work closely with the police and the Community Security Trust on our security procedures and were able to evacuate the building quickly and safely.

“We would like to thank our staff and visitors for their patience and cooperation.”

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said part of Albert Street was closed, and that officers searched the building, but that nothing suspicious was found.

People were allowed to return into the building from around 1pm.

“The museum was soon able to resume functioning as normal,” added a spokesman.

The Sydney Jewish Museum was also evacuated yesterday and closed for two hours after a bomb threat.

Both the UK and the US have witnessed a dramatic spike in Jewish hate crimes.

The Community Security Trust, the charity which monitors anti-Semitism, recorded 1,309 incidents nationwide during 2016.

This was a 36 per cent increase on 2015 and surpasses the previous highest tally of 1,182 in 2014.

More than 100 headstones were damaged at a Jewish cemetery in Missouri earlier this month.