Germany: Jewish teen beaten for wearing kippah in Cologne
An 18-year-old Jewish man in the western German city of Cologne was hospitalized over the weekend after suffering severe injuries in what appears to have been an antisemitic attack.
"Clearly antisemitism in Germany has once again raised
its ugly head," North Rhine-Westphalia's (NRW) State Antisemitism
Commissioner Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger told reporters on Monday as she
addressed the attack.
The man was sitting in a city park with a friend late Friday
night when he was verbally abused by a group of teens for wearing the
traditional Jewish yarmulke, or kippah, head covering.
The verbal attacks quickly escalated into a physical attack
as the group of 10 perpetrators punched and kicked the victim before stealing
his yarmulke.
Police later took the victim to a local hospital for
treatment of wounds including a broken nose and broken cheekbone.
Shortly after the incident police apprehended two youths
they recognized from surveillance footage from the scene. The youths, 18 and 19
years old, were later released but remain suspects according to police.
"I am appalled by this horrific and cowardly attack on
a young man who was violently assaulted by a group and seriously injured for
apparently antisemitic motives," Germany's Federal Antisemitism
Commissioner Felix Klein told the DPA news agency on Monday.
"I hope that the suspected perpetrators, who are
apparently only 18 and 19 years old, will be ordered to undergo educational
programs in which they will be taught the basic principles of the rule of law
and of our free democratic order," said Klein.
Authorities say the federal police's State Protection
Service will lead the investigation due to the apparent antisemitic nature of
the attack.
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