BERLIN (JTA) — A man and two women were brutally attacked in Berlin allegedly after the assailants demanded to know whether they were Jewish.
According to a statement from the Jewish community of Berlin, a man of "Mediterranean" appearance on Friday night demanded to know if the three were Jewish. After they said they were, the man "obviously went to get some friends," who then beat the three, all in their mid-20s, in an underground train and on the platform in the Wilmersdorf section of Berlin.
Police are investigating the incident as an anti-Semitic and racist attack, as it allegedly began with the attackers cursing the victims. The youths then beat and kicked the two women and one attacker smashed a bottle over the man’s head.
Police said they had no information about the identity of the attackers, according to news reports. But Levi Solomon, head of the Jewish community’s department for combating anti-Semitism, said in a statement that "violent attacks on Jews or presumed Jews were increasingly committed by youths from immigrant circles."
"We urgently need to grasp the causes and affects of anti-Semitism, especially among young Turks and Arabs, and to fight vigorously against this problem."
In another incident over the weekend, police arrested four of the 18 youths who attacked three pedestrians in the Wedding district of Berlin, beating and kicking them. One attacker used a knife to tear a victim’s clothing. The victims were treated on the scene for injuries.
Police are searching for the remaining suspects.
There also has been a spate of violent attacks allegedly by right-wing extremist youths in the Neukoln section of Berlin.
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