UK police given more time to question 4 suspects over deadly Manchester synagogue attack

LONDON (AP) — U.K. police were given extra time Saturday to question four people arrested on suspicion of terror offenses after an attack on a synagogue in northwest England that left two people dead and Britain’s Jewish community shocked and grieving.

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 hospitalized 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 hadn't 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 work to determine whether the attacker acted alone. A court on Saturday granted police five more days to hold four of the suspects: men ages 30 and 32, and women ages 46 and 61. An 18-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man were released with no further action, police said.

Police haven't 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 U.K. have risen sharply since Hamas’ Oct. 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. The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful, but some say chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” incite anti-Jewish hatred.

Some also say that the U.K.’s recognition of a Palestinian state last month has emboldened antisemitism — a claim that the government rejects. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy was interrupted by boos and shouts of “Shame on you” on Friday as he addressed a vigil for victims of the attack in Manchester.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters have frequently accused critics of Israel or its conduct of the war of antisemitism. Critics see it as an attempt to stifle even legitimate criticism.

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. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that organizers should “recognize 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, organizers said that about 1,000 people demonstrated against the banning of Palestine Action, a direct-action group that has vandalized British military planes and targeted sites with links to the Israeli military. It has been labeled a terrorist organization by the government, making support for the group illegal. Critics say that tramples on free speech and the right to protest.

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.

More than 2,000 people have now been arrested at protests since Palestine Action was proscribed in July, and more than 130 charged with terrorism offenses.

Campaigner Jonathon Porritt said that protesters would “demonstrate huge respect and real grief for those affected by the absolute atrocity at Heaton Park.

“But I don’t think that means that we should be asked to give up on our right to stand up for those who are being devastated by an ongoing, real-time genocide in Gaza,” he told the BBC.

Police officers attend the scene of attack at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester, England, Saturday Oct. 4, 2025. (Peter Byrne/PA via AP)

Police remove a protester taking part in a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, London Saturday Oct. 4, 2025. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)

Police remove a protester after a banner was unfurled on Westminster Bridge, London, as part of a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action, Saturday Oct. 4, 2025. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)

People take part in a demonstration organized by GM Friends of Palestine at Manchester Cathedral, in Manchester, England, Saturday, Oct. 4 2025. (Ryan Jenkinson/PA via AP)

FILE - People hold a minute of silence in a square in central Manchester, England, on May 25, 2017, after a suicide bombing attack at an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

FILE - A man stands next to flowers for the victims of a bombing at St. Ann's Square in central Manchester, England, May 26, 2017. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

Police remove a protester taking part in a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, London Saturday Oct. 4, 2025. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)

Flowers laid near by the scene of a stabbing incident at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, in Crumpsall, Manchester, England, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria arrive to meet emergency workers near Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester, England, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, where two people died in a terror attack on Thursday. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

Forensic teams work at the scene of a stabbing incident that took place on Thursday, at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, in Manchester, England, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

A woman wears the flag of Israel wrapped over her back as she attends a vigil for the victims of the attack on at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, in Crumpsall, Manchester, England, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

A woman brings flowers as she attends a vigil for the victims of the attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, in Crumpsall, Manchester, England, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, the attack happened Thursday. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The almighty eagle perched on a cactus while devouring a serpent on Mexico’s flag hints at the myth behind the foundation of the country’s capital.

It's a divine sign in an ancient legend, according to which the god Huitzilopochtli asked a group called the Mexica — who founded what was later known as the Aztec Empire — to leave their homeland in search of a place to establish a new city.

It took some 175 years before they spotted the sacred omen and established the city of Tenochtitlan in 1325 where Mexico City stands today.

How the eagle, the cactus and the serpent became an emblem and endured through the European conquest is the focus of a new exhibition. “A coat of arms, an emblem, a symbol of identity,” runs through Dec. 15 at the Old City Hall in downtown Mexico City.

The exhibit is among the government’s activities marking the 700th anniversary of the founding of the Mexica capital.

“Recognizing Tenochtitlan doesn’t mean recalling a dead past, but rather the living heartbeat that still beats beneath our city,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said during an official ceremony in July. “It was the center of an Indigenous world that built its own model of civilization — one in harmony with the Earth, the stars, and its gods and goddesses.”

Fragments of that civilization lie underneath the Old City Hall, the current seat of Mexico City’s government.

Built by order of Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés in 1522, its construction used stones from ancient Mexica sacred sites. The building has been renewed over time, but its halls have witnessed centuries of governance and symbolism.

“Holding the exhibition in this City Hall, a place of decisions and memory, is a way to recognize the history of those who once inhabited it and how its transformations still echo in Mexico City’s identity,” said Mariana Gómez Godoy, Director of Mexico City’s Cultural Heritage, during the exhibit’s inauguration in November.

The Mexica themselves recorded their story after Tenochtitlan fell to the Europeans. Several codices depict the path that led them to fulfill their deity’s task.

Eduardo Matos Moctezuma — an acclaimed archaeologist from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History — has argued that the legend is a symbolic retelling of historical events, rather than a literal claim about divine prophecy.

Still, according to the Templo Mayor Museum, the region's pre-Hispanic people preserved the origin story of a long journey that led to the founding of Tenochtitlan as a cornerstone of their traditions.

They honored a small island in Lake Texcoco, now central Mexico City, as the place where the Mexica found the eagle foretold by Huitzilopochtli.

The new exhibit offers a historical overview of how the image evolved — from its establishment as the city’s coat of arms in 1523 under Emperor Charles V to its transformation into an emblem of Mexico as an independent nation.

Curated by researcher Guadalupe Lozada, it also displays images portraying how it was adopted by the religious orders in charge of converting the Indigenous people to Catholicism.

While the eagle and cactus were already adopted by Europeans in the mid-16th century, the Jesuits introduced the serpent decades later. “From then on, it would remain a symbol of the city’s identity — one that would also spread throughout the rest of New Spain,” Lozada said.

According to her, plenty of monasteries dating back to the 17th century attest to how friars displayed the eagle and cactus in their sanctuaries. Even today, the emblem can still be seen above the façade of Mexico City’s cathedral and inside one of its chapels.

“Such was the strength of Mexica culture that the evangelizers sought to adopt it rather than exclude it,” she said. “It was like saying, ‘I acknowledge your history.’”

The same logic applied with the European conquerors. Even as they ordered the destruction of the Mexica religious complexes, the representation of the foundational myth was not erased from history.

“For them, conquering a city like Tenochtitlan was a matter of pride and therefore they never intended to deny its existence,” Lozada said. “This meant that the strength of the city buried beneath the new one underlies it and resurfaces — as if it had never disappeared.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Protesters gather in front of the Legislative Palace of San Lazaro in Mexico City, where the Mexican coat of arms is visible on the building's façade, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

People sit on benches in Plaza del Aguilita, where the evolution of the Mexican coat of arms is showcased, Mexico City, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

The entrance of Mexico City's National Museum of Anthropology features Mexico's national emblem on its façade, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

The Teocalli of the Sacred War, the only archaeological piece bearing the carved symbol of Tenochtitlan's founding, an eagle perched on a cactus, is on display at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

People at the square of Aguilita in Mexico City walk past a central sculpture depicting Mexico's coat of arms which shows an eagle perched on a cactus devouring a rattlesnake, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

Rosalba Sanchez Flores, a historian at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, points to the details of Mexico's coat of arms as depicted in the Codex Mendoza, Friday, Nov. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

People sit on benches in Plaza del Aguilita, where the evolution of the Mexican coat of arms is showcased, Mexico City, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

People sit at a rooftop bar overlooking Mexico City's Fine Arts Palace, where the Mexican coat of arms is visible atop the building's dome, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)

Mexico's coat of arms decorates a large flag in the city's Zocalo square, Mexico City, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Claudia Rosel)