
German police have arrested 13 suspects in the past day in three anti-Semitic incidents, following the escalation in Israel and the Gaza Strip. The suspects threw stones at a synagogue, burned Israeli flags and set fire to a monument to a synagogue which was destroyed in the 1938 Kristallnacht riots.
The three incidents were in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Three young men in their 20s were arrested last night in the city of Bonn. They were released after they threw stones at a synagogue window and set fire to an Israeli flag. They told the police that the situation in Israel and Gaza led them to riot outside the synagogue.
In the city of Minster, more than 13 men were arrested who demonstrated outside a synagogue and burned Israeli flags. They were charged with unlawful assembly. In Düsseldorf, the capital of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, rioters set fire to a garbage can at a monument to the city's great synagogue - which was destroyed on Kristallnacht.
Following the events, Josef Schuster, president of the German Jewish Council, called for increased security outside synagogues and other Jewish sites. The government representative for the fight against anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, also said that the incidents were worrying and called for securing Jewish sites accordingly.
"Anti-Semitic hatred is a disgrace," Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht said in response. "Synagogues and Jewish sites must be firmly defended."
Armin Lasht, the prime minister of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said police had stepped up security at Jewish sites in the region. "We will not tolerate anti-Semitism," Lasht said of the three incidents.