A 17-year-old boy wearing a Jewish kippa (yarmulke) skullcap and a pin with the Israeli flag was walking down the Neustrasse when he was assaulted by a group of ten men late on Friday. One of the attackers pushed the boy, causing him pain.
Proceeding from the boy's testimony, investigators suspect it was an anti-Semitic crime.The boys said the attackers were men with black hair and black beards of "southern or North African appearance" between 18 and 23 years old. Some of them wore white T-shirts.
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The Jewish community was horrified by the incident, expressing its concerns over Jews' safety in the city.
"When, three and a half years ago, Josef Schuster, chairman of the Central Jewish Council, had warned against going to certain Berlin districts with a kippa, I said that this does not apply to Dusseldorf. I have to withdraw this statement now. I would not advise any Jew to wear kippa in some districts of the city with many Muslim residents, including the old town," Michael Szentei-Heise, managing director of the Jewish community on the Zietenstrasse street told the Express newspaper.
In the wake of the refugee crisis of 2015, Germany has seen a spike in a number of hate crimes. In another development earlier in July, a group of young adults attacked a Jewish-Syrian man in a Berlin park after they saw a Star of David on his neck.
