Manchester – Diners were terrified as armed thugs burst into a kosher restaurant on Wednesday.
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Armed with metal bars and hammers, four men crashed through the side entrance and into the kitchen of JS in Kings Road, Prestwich.
"One of the gang members had an iron bar and shouted, 'Armed robbery, get down'," said diner Russell Grossman, who lives in north London.
"We didn't know if it was real at first. But the reality of the situation soon sank in and we quickly realised they were deadly serious."
The raiders made off with an undisclosed sum of money from the till. They also snatched a handbag from one of the waitresses and tried to steal her car but they then fled in a stolen Honda Civic along Rochester Avenue.
JS manager Michael Issler said: "They clearly weren't professionals – they were very amateurish and blasé about the whole thing.
"But the customers were really excellent. They didn't flinch at all.
"The whole thing only lasted about 2-3 minutes, but it seemed like for ever.
"The police only took a couple of minutes to get there and were very good." [jewishtelegraph]