Police arrest 2 suspects in beating of Jewish man in Paris elevator
Watchdog praises police for quick arrest after August 6 incident in which 29-year-old victim was knocked unconscious while assailants allegedly called him a 'dirty Jew'
JTA — Police in France arrested two men that they said are behind the allegedly anti-Semitic assault earlier this month on a Jewish man who was knocked unconscious in an elevator.
The National Bureau for Vigilance against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA, a nongovernmental watchdog group, on Wednesday praised police’s “swift identification and arrest” of the two men, who are Black, according to the BNVCA statement.
In the August 6 incident, the victim, identified in French media only as David S., 29, said he was beaten by two men in the elevator of a Paris building where his parents live and called a “dirty Jew.”
The men followed him into the elevator, according to his police complaint. David sustained minor injuries to the face and throat.
The incident happened at a residential building in the 19th arrondissement, or district, of Paris, where many Jews live.
David said he was rendered unconscious for several minutes because of the force of the blows.
Medical staff prescribed eight days of rest for David. In France, the number of rest days prescribed to assault victims may affect the sentence passed on offenders in case of a conviction.