A police vehicle in front of the synagogue in Graz
Photo: Erwin Scheriau / dpaOne day after the attack on the president of the Jewish community in Graz, the police arrested a suspect. A police spokesman confirmed corresponding online media reports, as the Austrian news agency APA announced on Sunday evening.
Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) announced via Twitter that officials had arrested the suspect. Details about the suspect's statement that his origin and motivation would probably only be revealed in the early hours of the morning, it said at the request of the APA from the Interior Ministry.
The man is made responsible for seven crimes in Graz, as it was said. It is about property damage caused by stone throwing and smear actions, including against the synagogue in Graz. In one case, he is said to be targeting an establishment in the red light district. According to initial information from the Interior Ministry, the man confessed.
The chairman of the Jewish community, Elie Rosen, was attacked by a man on Saturday, presumably with a baseball bat. Since he was in a car, he was not injured. The attacker fled.
Several windows of the synagogue were damaged on Friday night and pro-Palestinian slogans were sprayed on the building and the nearby community center on Tuesday night. "A connection with the last incidents around the Graz synagogue is obvious," the police said. In response to the incidents, Austria's interior minister ordered increased surveillance of all Jewish institutions in the country.
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