This is a guest post by Karl Pfeifer
Innsbruck, the capital of Bundesland (federal province) Tirol, western Austria, with 130,000 inhabitants, has a small Jewish community and a synagogue.
According to Innsbruck daily Tiroler Tageszeitung, Esther Frisch has asked for the police to protect the Jewish community, of which she is President, because vandals have during the past weeks caused considerable damage.
It started after a Left wing/Islamist demonstration against Israel on January 10:
“The entrance door was violently kicked and a bottle of beer was thrown against it” said Frisch.
Last Monday the monitoring camera was damaged, the lock was sealed up and the entrance covered in graffiti. Frisch called for the steady presence of a policeman in front of the synagogue. Last Tuesday, in the full light of day, vandals smashed the intercom system.
Frisch complained, that “police patrols are not enough if the vandals act during the day”
Ludwig Spörr commander of the “Verfassungsschutz” (“defense of the constitution”) regrets the act of vandals. The perpetrator has been apprehended, and identified as an Austrian citizen of Turkish origin. Spörr promised guarding the synagogue during opening time.
