A gang of Neo-Nazis attacked Jewish worshipers at a Jewish centre in Uman, Ukraine on Wednesday morning and desecrated the tomb of Rabbi Nachman, the founder of the Berslov Hasidic sect.
Witnesses say the gang entered the compound at around 2am and started attacking Jewish worshipers with tear gas while shouting anti-Semitic abuse. They then hurled red paint around the building and left a pigs head by Rabbi Nachman’s final resting place.
Photographs of the pigs head show a swastika carved into its forehead.
Two Israelis were injured in the attack and were taken to hospital for treatment. It is not clear whether this was due to tear gas or any other injuries.
The attack left Jewish visitors shaken, with one witness saying, “we were saved from murder only by the grace of heaven”, according to Arutz 7.
“It was really frightening,” said a second witness, who works at the compound. “We’ve suffered from anti-Semitism here in the past, but this attack crossed a line and we’re all still in shock. We’ve started to clean the place, and the police have been called, but as far as I know, there haven’t been any arrests.”
“A gang of anti-Semites, Nazis, came here,” Rabbi Yisrael Elhadad, who helps administer the site, told Yediot Ahronot. “One of them came up and scoped the place out. We thought he wanted to pray here, since sometimes foreigners [Ukrainian non-Jews] come in to pray. But then a minute later two others came in with a bottle of red paint and started spraying tear gas on the worshippers. Two Israelis who came to visit were sent for medical treatment at the hospital.”
The incident has been reported to the police. As yet, no arrests have been made.
The video below shows the aftermath of the attack, with the pigs head now removed from the building and placed outside.
