Eye witnesses have described the moment windows were smashed at a kosher restaurant in one of a series of apparently "random" attacks.

Vandals threw objects believed to be marbles at the windows of Orli, in Hale Lane, Edgware from a car at around 5pm yesterday.

Another building and two vehicles were also attacked and the motive is not believed to be anti-Semitic.

Initial reports on social media suggested shots had been fired, but the Metropolitan Police and the Community Security Trust (CST) have confirmed no firearm was used.

One staff member said: “We didn’t know what was happening. We had customers inside, and they all thought it was a gun shot. What do you expect in a Jewish restaurant?

“People were panicking because they saw the holes in the window, and then it was all over Twitter and Facebook. We took all the customers outside. The CST came about ten minutes later.

“The police came later and told us it was marbles. They said other shops in Barnet had the same incident. We closed the shop because we didn’t know if the glass was going to fall off.”

The restaurant opened as usual this morning, with the broken window boarded up.

Another eye witness said: “I was sitting right in front of the window, looking outside when it happened.

“If it was kids, they must be terribly dangerous people, or they must have a very powerful tool or gun, because it is very thick and toughened glass. Whatever they shot with, it went right through and inside the restaurant. It’s not like kids throwing stones. Even a slingshot couldn’t do that.

“There were children sitting by the glass five minutes before. If someone had been hit, they would have been really hurt.”

A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed police were aware of up to four incidents in the Barnet and Edgware area, in which the occupants of a vehicle had fired projectiles, described in some incidents as marbles, at other vehicles and buildings.

The spokesman said that the incidents appeared to be “completely random”. 

He added: “At this time there does not appear to be any obvious motive behind these incidents.”

A spokesman for the CST, a Jewish security charity, said: “From what the police have told us they do not think it was singled out as a Jewish target.

“It caused some initial concern in the community. At this stage it does not appear to be an anti-Semitic attack, but related to other incidents in the area that did not concern the Jewish community.”

A police investigation is underway.