A man punched a young Orthodox Jew in the street in Zurich. Uttering antisemitic insults, he was overpowered by passers-by and arrested by the police. The victim was slightly injured.
The 40-year-old assailant attacked the 26-year-old man directly on a pavement, without prior interaction. He punched him before several people came to the victim’s aid and overpowered the attacker.
They held the man until the police arrived. The assailant made insulting and antisemitic remarks, also in the presence of police officers.
The man has no fixed address in Switzerland. He is known to the police for unrelated offences, the police told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-ATS. He was handed over to the Zurich public prosecutor’s office after an initial police interrogation.
The victim suffered scratches to his neck and other parts of his body, according to the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities. He is in a state of shock. “This incident is part of a series of antisemitic attacks that have increased sharply in Switzerland since October 2023. Jewish people have become targets of insults and physical violence simply because of their appearance and their Jewish identity,” the federation wrote.
