(JEWISH GROUP) 'In the presence of evil': Manchester synagogue attack survivor on the day that shook British Jews
It was just after 6am and Yoni Finlay woke early with nerves. It was Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, and the 39-year-old Mancunian was due to sing the dawn prayer, Shacharis, before hundreds of worshippers later that morning.
After practising his verse, Finlay buttoned up his white robes and headed to Heaton Park shul in north Manchester. He greeted familiar faces – exchanging a cheery hello with Bernard Agyemang, the security guard – then took a seat on the stage, the bimah, and said prayers.
“And then we heard a bang,” he said. He remembers Alan Levy, the chair of the synagogue’s trustees, running into the synagogue saying “close the doors, close the doors”.
Finlay rushed to the entrance to see what was happening. Through the reinforced glass, he saw Agyemang’s crumpled body on the ground. He turned to see Andrew Franks, a volunteer security guard, covered in blood.
The moment that many in Britain’s Jewish community had feared was finally here. They were under attack.
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