Anti-Semitic slogans trigger violence at Ukraine political rally

Several people were injured after protesters displayed anti-Semitic slogans at a political rally in Ukraine.

Advertisement

(JTA) — Several people were injured after protesters displayed anti-Semitic slogans at a political rally in Ukraine.

The April 6 rally in Cherkasy, a city situated 100 miles southeast of Kiev, turned violent after six men took off their jackets to reveal T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Beat the kikes” and “Svoboda,” the name of a Ukrainian ultranationalist movement and the word for “freedom” in Ukrainian. 

Police arrested one of the men, who also were confronted by people attending the rally, a gathering of opposition parties.

Police questioned 36 people suspected of inciting ethnic hatred in connection with the incident, according to a report by the Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism, a watchdog group.

One of those injured at the rally, which was attended by a few hundred people, was Victor Smal, a lawyer and human rights activist.

“I told the men in the T-shirts they were promoting hatred," Smal told the news site newsru.co.il. "They beat me to the ground and kicked me until I lost consciousness."

Recommended from JTA

Advertisement