Kicks and pepper spray: Jewish tourist attacked twice in Rome within 24 hours

A 22-year-old French Jewish tourist, Yitzhak Dahan, was attacked twice in Rome in less than 24 hours: first sprayed with pepper spray in Piazza Cairoli, and the next day attacked by four people who kicked him in Largo di Torre Argentina, with cries of 'Free Palestine' heard in both cases. The Carabinieri arrested a main suspect, a 31-year-old Algerian citizen, and three others are wanted. Italian minister Antonio Tajani, president of the Jewish community in Rome Victor Fadlun, and Israeli ambassador Jonathan Peled condemned the attack as anti-Semitic.

Yitzhak Dahan, a 22-year-old French Jewish tourist from Paris, was attacked twice in central Rome within less than 24 hours during a family vacation. In the first incident, on the evening of August 7 in Piazza Cairoli, he was sprayed in the face with pepper spray by a man shouting 'Free Palestine'. The next evening, on August 8 in Largo di Torre Argentina, about 300 meters away, four people surrounded him, kicked him, and again shouted 'Free Palestine'. Dahan identified among the attackers the man who had sprayed him the day before. He filed a complaint at the Carabinieri station in Piazza Farnese. The police arrested a main suspect, a 31-year-old Algerian citizen, homeless and with a criminal record, accused of assault and incitement on racial, ethnic, or religious grounds. Three additional involved individuals are wanted. Italian minister Antonio Tajani condemned the attack as anti-Semitic, as did the president of the Jewish community in Rome Victor Fadlun and Israel's ambassador to Italy Jonathan Peled. Dahan said he would return to Rome but would be more cautious.