(JTA) – Police in Malmo arrested two teenagers who tried to break into a Jewish community building during a demonstration that featured anti-Semitic slogans.
Five people gathered outside the JCC in the center of the Swedish city on March 27 and tried to force their way inside past security, the Sydsvenskan regional daily newspaper reported. The intruders stopped at the gate, where they voiced insults against Judaism, police officer Linda Pleym told the newspaper.
The two men arrested, both 18, were not named in the report. Police released them shortly after questioning; prosecutors will decide whether they will be charged with trespassing and intimidation, the newspaper reported.
Fred Kahn, president of the Malmo Jewish community of approximately 1,000, said the teens also filmed and took pictures of the building before being arrested.
Swedish police recorded 60 hate crimes against Jews in the city in 2012, up from an average of 22 in 2010 and 2011.
About 30 percent of Malmo’s 300,000 residents belong to families of immigrants from Muslim countries, according to city statistics. Radical members of that population are responsible for most of the attacks against Jews, the Jewish community has said.
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