On Friday night, a man armed with a knife tried to break into the New Synagogue in central Berlin with shouts of “Allahu akbar” and “Fuck Israel”.
Two synagogue guards pointed pistols at him and prevented him from entering. Arriving policeman detained the attacker using a gas spray. The attack occurred a few minutes before Saturday evening prayer, and there were many people in the synagogue.
The German newspaper Bild reports that a man found documents in the name of a 23-year-old Syrian refugee, a native of Damascus, Murad M., although he has a completely European appearance.
The interrogation did not answer the question about the motives of the criminal acts. According to Bild, Murad M. has a clean police dossier.
German media reported that he was released from the police station on Saturday morning.
The incident in Berlin occurred a few days after the terrorist attack in the prefecture of the police in Paris, where an Islamic system administrator in the intelligence department killed four colleagues with a knife.