A man burned down the door of a synagogue and a group of protesters broke into an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne on Friday night (4). Both attacks mark a wave of anti -Semitism in Australian cities.
About 20 people were inside the synagogue in the center of East Melbourne, when a man spilled a flammable liquid at the front door before setting fire, Victoria’s state police said.
The group was having dinner at, when the attack occurred at 20h, local time (7am Brasília), wrote Alex Ryvchin, Co-CEO of ECAJ (Executive Council of Australian Judaism) at X.
No one was injured and the firefighters put out the small fire, police said, adding that the perpetrator, who remains unidentified, fled the scene.
Just over 1 kilometer to the west at Hardware Lane – one of the most popular areas of the city for restaurants – about 20 protesters broke into an Israeli restaurant shouting slogans, police said. A 28 -year -old man was arrested for disturbing police action and was released after being summoned.
The group shouted “death to Israel’s defense forces” before arriving at the restaurant, said the affiliate of the CNNNine News, quoting witnesses.
Miznon Restaurant employees – opened at the Israeli Shopping Center of Tel Aviv in 2011, before opening a branch in Melbourne – recognized the incident when contacted by CNN.
At a news conference, interim commander Zorkka Dunstan of the Victoria State Police said the police were also investigating a third attack on Saturday morning (5), in which three cars were set on fire near a commercial establishment in the Greensborough suburb in the northeast of the country.
Suspects bought the cars and walls of the buildings, she said, adding that the establishment has already been the target of pro-Palestinian protesters in the past.
The safety investigation unit, part of the anti -terrorism command, is investigating all incidents, although the police have not yet declared if they constitute an act of terrorism, Dunstan said.
“We will examine the intention and ideology of the people involved,” added the commander.
Jews living in Australia are concerned with attacks
Many of the 117,000 are anxious after the wave of in the two largest cities in the country, Sydney and Melbourne since the end of last year – including criminal fires in synagogues and scribbled in buildings and cars.
The last attacks were convicted by authorities and community leaders. Denouncing the attack on the synagogue on Saturday (5), Victoria’s premie, Jacinta Allan, said he was “planned to destroy peace and traumatize Jewish families.”
“The fact that it happened in Shabbat makes everything even more disgusting,” Allan added, noting that children and women were among the people present at the scene.
“Any attack on a place of worship is an act of hatred, and any attack on a place of Jewish worship is an act of anti -Semitism,” the prime minister added.
Melbourne mayor Nicholas Reece described the attack as “shocking”, according to Nine News.
“I can’t condemn this kind of behavior more vehemently, this is a city of peace and tolerance, and we won’t tolerate it,” he said.
Ryvchin, from ECAJ, insisted the nation to condemn “these deplorable crimes.”
“Those responsible cannot be appeased or appeased. They must be confronted with all the force of the law,” Reece wrote in X.
