- KIEV, Ukraine - About 50
youths attacked the central synagogue in Kiev, beating worshippers with
stones and bottles and destroying property, the community's rabbi said
today.
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- Kiev's chief rabbi, Moshe-Reuven Azman, said the mob
marched down the capital's main boulevard shouting "Kill the Jews!"
before attacking the synagogue just after 9 p.m. (1800 GMT) Saturday.
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- However, police denied it was an anti-Semitic attack,
saying it was a case of soccer-relate hooliganism.
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- Azman said the youths knocked Tsvi Kaplan, rector of
Kiev's yeshiva, or Jewish school, to the ground and beat him with stones.
Kaplan was hospitalized overnight but was released Sunday. Azman's 14-year
old son and a security guard also suffered injuries, the rabbi said.
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- Azman said the attackers broke 20 windows in the synagogue.
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- "I call this act a pogrom," Azman said. "It's
a miracle that it was not worse."
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- Broken glass covered the floor of the synagogue Sunday,
and police stood guard outside the building.
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- "We didn't understand what was happening. All of
a sudden, we saw a crowd running toward us with rocks," Azman's son
Jorik told Russia's NTV television.
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- Police detained eight people - all soccer fans from 18
to 20 years old - in connection with the incident, Echo of Moscow radio
reported.
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- In Ukraine and other former Soviet republics, rowdy soccer
fans often shave their heads and attack ethnic minorities, blurring the
line between hooligans and neo-Nazi skinheads.
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- http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/04/14/LatestNews/LatestNews.46931.html
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