Three folks have been arrested after an assault on two vacationers in Venice this week, native police mentioned on Thursday as Italian politicians condemned the incident.
“Two international Jewish vacationers have been surrounded and overwhelmed by a bunch of 10 attackers,” Venice’s deputy mayor accountable for tourism, Simone Venturini, wrote on social media.
It occurred just a few days in the past on the Strada Nova, a thoroughfare close to the Rialto Bridge, he mentioned, calling it a “shameful anti-Semitic assault”.
Tourism Minister Daniela Santanche wrote on X that the assault had been dedicated by “a dozen North Africans shouting ‘Free Palestine'”.
Italian authorities had not formally confirmed the identification of the perpetrators, nor the circumstances of the assault, the newest in a collection of assaults or threats towards Jews in current months.
However, Venice’s chief of police, Gaetano Bonaccorso, informed the Rai state broadcaster that three folks have been arrested following the assault.
One of them was deported to their nation of origin and one other was positioned in a migrant detention centre, he mentioned.
In a separate assertion, Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro referred to as the victims “two American residents of Jewish religion,” denouncing the assault as “unacceptable”.
“Venice is and should stay an open, welcoming and protected metropolis,” he wrote.
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Italy’s Ansa information company mentioned the assault occurred shortly after midnight on Monday.
The US embassy in Rome didn’t affirm the assault nor the identification of the victims when questioned by AFP.
Antisemitic assaults have risen sharply in European nations, fuelled partially by Israel’s battle with Hamas for the reason that Palestinian group’s October 7 assault.
In Italy, the variety of antisemitic acts doubled in 2024 in comparison with the earlier 12 months, in line with the CDEC Jewish cultural institute.
An identical occasion occurred in August, in line with native information, wherein an American Jewish couple was attacked by a bunch of three males close to the Rialto Bridge.
