Police said the two victims, aged 76 and 34, were both in a stable condition in hospital, and officers, some ‌of whom the suspect also attacked, had arrested a 45-year-old man after stopping him with a Taser stun gun.

The suspect is a British national, born in Somalia, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

He was initially taken to a hospital, but has since been discharged and taken to a London police station, where he remains in custody.

Detectives believe the suspect was also involved in a separate altercation earlier on Wednesday in southeast London.

The suspect was armed with ​a knife in that incident, and a person received minor injuries, the police said.

The attack has drawn demands for urgent action amid concerns about the safety of Britain’s 290,000 Jews.

The suspect, whom police are questioning ⁠on suspicion of attempted murder, had a history of serious violence and mental health issues, London’s police chief, Mark Rowley, said in a statement at the scene.

The government has promised to provide more resources ​across the country to protect communities, but in a sign of the anger and fear, a crowd at the scene heckled Rowley and called for him to resign, shouting “you’ve failed”.

Unverified ​footage of Wednesday’s incident posted on social media appeared to show a man in a traditional Jewish skullcap being attacked by an assailant with a knife as he stood at a bus stop.

The suspect had tried to stab police officers, police said, although no officers were injured.

The social media footage later showed officers repeatedly kicking the suspect as they attempted to take the knife away from him.

Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said ​the British government needed more than just words to face down such “hatred”.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called for urgent action, saying it had become “dangerous to openly walk the streets as a Jew” in London.

“Let’s be frank, this ‌is not an ⁠isolated incident. There have been a series of antisemitic attacks,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement, having earlier described the stabbing as “utterly appalling”.

Starmer said his government needed to boost funding even further for security for Jewish communities and tackle what he called “malign state actors”.

A spokesperson for King Charles said the monarch was “being kept fully informed and is naturally deeply concerned, in particular about the impact for the Jewish community”.

Rowley said he would discuss with the government what more help could be made available.

“It is completely understandable why Jewish Londoners feel afraid. Jewish communities are understandably angry. ​There’s been too many attacks,” he said.

Detectives are ​examining whether the arson incidents over the ⁠past month have possible Iranian links, amid warnings from security officials that Iran has sought to use criminal proxies to carry out hostile activity in Britain.

On Tuesday, Britain summoned the Iranian ambassador over what it called the Iranian embassy’s “unacceptable and inflammatory” comments on social media.

Pro-Iranian group Harakat Ashab Al Yamin Al Islamiyya (HAYI), which has said ​it was behind some of the London arson attacks and similar ones across Europe, claimed responsibility on social media for Wednesday’s stabbings.

Police have previously ​said they were assessing such ⁠online claims but have not confirmed their authenticity.

“We know that some individuals are being encouraged, persuaded or paid to commit acts of violence on behalf of foreign organisations and hostile states,” Rowley said.