A man suspected of assaulting the president of the Jewish community in Graz and throwing stones and writing tags on the synagogue has been arrested.
Solidarity rally after the attack on the president of the Jewish community in Graz on Sunday 23 August 2020, in front of the synagogue.
KEYSTONE
Austrian police have arrested a man in the investigation of seven crimes motivated by anti-Semitism in Graz, including assault and acts of vandalism, a spokesperson told the APA news agency on Sunday.
The man involved is suspected of having attacked the president of the local Jewish community, but also of having thrown stones and inscribed tags on the synagogue. Interior Ministry sources told APA he confessed. No details have been released on his identity.
Pro-Palestinian slogans
On Wednesday, the synagogue was covered with pro-Palestinian slogans. Then Saturday evening, the president of the Jewish community, Elie Rosen, had been attacked in the street by a stranger armed with a stick, without being injured however.
The acts of vandalism and aggression were condemned by President Alexander Van der Bellen and Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz. “Hatred of Jews and anti-Semitism have no place in our society”, wrote the first on Twitter, while the second said he was “shocked by the aggression”.
Austria recorded some 550 anti-Semitic incidents in 2019.
The Graz Synagogue, destroyed during Crystal Night in 1938 by the Nazis, was rebuilt on this site 72 years later.
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