Molotov cocktails thrown at Berlin synagogue – police

Two Molotov cocktails were thrown at a synagogue in Berlin on Wednesday, police said, as the country experiences a surge in anti-Semitic incidents in connection with the Hamas-Israel war.

According to police, at around 3:45am local time, two masked assailants threw bottles with flammable liquid at the building in the German capital’s Mitte neighborhood, starting a fire and fleeing the scene. The fire was quickly put out by security personnel.

The building, which belongs to the Kahal Adass Jisroel Jewish community, also houses a daycare center and a yeshiva school, the Central Council of Jews in Germany said. Police said that several hours after the attack, a person drove up to the synagogue on a scooter and was briefly detained for shouting anti-Israel slogans.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the attack. “It outrages me personally what some of them are shouting and doing, and I am convinced that Germany’s citizens are of the same opinion as me,” Scholz told reporters. “We stand united for the protection of Jews.”

Later on Wednesday, police used pepper spray and water cannons to break up two pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the capital. During one gathering, rioters set garbage bins on fire, as well as pelting police and emergency vehicles with stones, police said. Overall, 39 arrests were made and 20 officers were injured.

Other anti-Semitic actions have been recorded over the course of the week. Israeli flags hung in solidarity with the victims of Hamas attacks in Israel were torn down and set ablaze in multiple cities across Germany, while swastikas and anti-Jewish slogans were drawn on the fragments of the Berlin Wall.