A 38-year-old man, suspected of having " jostled " Wednesday in Strasbourg a graffiti artist wearing a T-shirt with the words " Israel " then writing on the ground " forbidden to Jews " and " bitch ", was arrested on Friday August 28 , we learned from a police source. The suspect, already convicted of delinquency and suffering from multiple addictions, was arrested " at the beginning of the afternoon " at his home in Strasbourg and then placed in police custody, according to the same source.
Read also: Strasbourg: "forbidden to Jews", the prosecution opens an investigation
He has a profile of a " neighborhood petty offender " but was not known for acts of anti-Semitism, it was added, adding that he was identified through a " neighborhood survey " and evidence. provided by the victim.
The man is suspected of having verbally assaulted and jostled a young graffiti artist of the Jewish faith at the end of the afternoon on Wednesday who was decorating on behalf of the city of Strasbourg an electrical box near a sensitive city. This one wore a T-shirt with various names of cities and countries, among which “ Israel ”, had indicated his lawyer, Me Raphaël Nisand. According to the first elements, the suspect arrested would have approached with another man - whose role seems much more passive - the graffiti artist to jostle him, before throwing at him: " You are Jewish, you have nothing to do here. ". He even asked him to “ go and change ” his T-shirt, which the graffiti artist did, according to Me Nisand.
A complaint filed for "threats" and "racial insults"
Returning to finish his work, the victim was again attacked by the same man, this time alone. Always so virulent, he demanded that the graffiti artist give him one of his spray cans with which he tagged the ground " forbidden to Jews " and " bitch ", explained Raphael Nisand. " Very traumatized ", his client left and warned his manager at Strasbourg City Hall who was also verbally attacked when he went there.
The graffiti artist filed a complaint for “ threats ” and “ racial insults ”, according to Me Nisand, who was also mandated by the city agent, the Israelite Consistory of Bas-Rhin and the National Office for Vigilance Against Antisemitism ( BNVCA) to file a complaint. In a press release, the BNVCA praised " the Strasbourg police officers who arrested one of the perpetrators of the anti-Semitic aggression very close to the offense ".
