A family vacation in the Italian capital turned into an ongoing nightmare for a French Jewish tourist after he fell victim to two violent attacks in the heart of the city within 24 hours.
Yitzhak Dahan, a 22-year-old from Paris who works in finance, arrived in Rome for a five-day stay accompanied by his mother and brother.
On Friday evening, while walking through Piazza Cairoli near the Jewish Ghetto wearing a kippah, he noticed that a man was following him while shouting "Free Palestine." When Dahan turned around and tried to push him away, the man sprayed him with pepper spray at point-blank range and fled.
Less than 24 hours later, on Saturday night, another violent incident occurred just 300 meters from the location of the first attack. Four individuals surrounded Dahan, kicked him, and repeated the calls of "Free Palestine." Dahan recognized the attacker who had sprayed him with pepper spray the previous day among them.
Dahan later went to the local police station to file an official complaint. The police, who launched an investigation, have so far arrested one suspect in the incident - an Algerian national with a criminal background.