Swedish Jewish center targeted during anti-Semitic rally

Police in Malmo arrested two people who tried to break into a Jewish community building during a demonstration that featured anti-Semitic slogans.

Five people gathered outside the Jewish community center on Kamrergatan Street in Malmo’s center on March 27 and tried to force their way inside past security, the Sydsvenskan regional daily newspaper reported.

The intruders stopped at the gate, where they voiced insults against Judaism, police officer Linda Pleym told the newspaper.

The two men arrested, who are both 18, were not named in the report. Police released them shortly after questioning and local prosecutors will decide whether to charge the men with trespassing and intimidation, the newspaper reported.

Fred Kahn, president of the Malmo Jewish community, said the suspects also filmed and took pictures of the building before being arrested.

Swedish police recorded 60 hate crimes against Jews in the city in 2012, up from an average of 22 in 2010 and 2011.

About 30 percent of Malmo’s 300,000 residents belong to families of immigrants from Muslim countries, according to city statistics. Radical members of that population are responsible for most of the attacks against Jews, the Jewish community has said.

Malmo has approximately 1,000 Jews.