A group of five teenage boys found themselves in a distressing situation while returning from night school on Glen Eira Road, St Kilda East, at approximately 9:50 p.m. last night when a ute passed by.

According to police, two men inside the vehicle shouted antisemitic slurs at the boys before stopping just a few meters from the corner.

The teens, aged 15 to 16, attempted to distance themselves by running across the road. The ute then executed a U-turn and drove past them again, appearing to come dangerously close to hitting one of the boys.

“As the young boys were crossing the road, the ute intentionally drove towards them, ran a red light, and continued to scour the area, seemingly in search of the boys,” explained Adrian Healy, Acting Commander of the Southern Metro Region.

The father of one of the boys reported that the ute circled the vicinity for several minutes, prompting the teens to hide from view within a nearby school.

“They’re very traumatised, they’re very shaken up,” he said.

“He’s a pretty resilient boy living in this area. It’s not uncommon to have antisemitism screamed at you, but he was quite shaken up, which scared me.”

No one was physically injured in the incident, but the boy’s father said the attack has left the boys living in fear.

“He was fearful to walk to school this morning. I’m hoping with time it will settle, but the boys are fearful,” he said.

“It’s very difficult times for everybody, for every Australian, to have people shouting and abusing and screaming, with such threats to escalate to that level, very confronting, very concerning.”

Police have since identified two persons of interest in relation to the attack and are chasing “a number of avenues of enquiry”.

They believe the ute, which has NSW registration, was stolen in Victoria on Saturday and has since been connected to a series of aggravated burglaries and vehicle thefts.

Healy said they were looking for two teenage males in connection the abusive attack, but did not comment further on their identities.

”It’s an absolute disgrace that this would occur and it’s obviously caused some great concern to the young boys – they’re very, very fearful,” Healy said.

The investigation remains ongoing, and police are urging anyone with CCTV or dash-cam footage of the incident or the vehicle in the area to come forward.

Premier Jacinta Allan has condemned the alleged attack and said police were investigating whether a Nazi salute was performed during the incident.

“That salute is banned here in Victoria, you can be prosecuted for that and Victoria Police will be investigating,” Allan said.

“We’ll continue to do everything we can to make it absolutely clear that antisemitic and hateful behaviour has no place here in Victoria and we intend to strengthen the law, sending a message [that] you will be dealt with for this behaviour.

“No matter whatever faith you are or where you come from, you have the right to live safely and freely here in Victoria.”

Investigators are urging witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or report at crimestoppersvic.com.au.