The protest
Photo: AP
Demonstrators fear anti-Semitism in Venezuela
Dozens rally across from UN bureau in Caracas to protest recent attack on capital's synagogue
Dozens of demonstrators waving banners reading "Hate Only Sows Hate" and "Coexist" gathered Tuesday in front of the United Nations' local offices to protest an attack on a Jewish synagogue and to warn against what some fear is a growing tide of anti-Semitism.
Roughly 100 protesters condemned the Jan. 30 attack on a Caracas synagogue that has raised concerns of religious intolerance.
Tolerance
Associates Press
Erdogan says criticim of Israel does not amount to anti-Semitism. He adds his country guarantees rights, safety of country's Jewish population, calls anti-Semitism 'a crime against humanity'
An armed group vandalized the capital city's oldest synagogue last week, shattering religious objects, throwing Torah scrolls on the floor and spray-painting walls with anti-Semitic messages amid Venezuela's diplomatic spat with Israel over its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Venezuelan authorities are investigating the incident, but no suspects have been arrested.
Leaders of Venezuela's estimated 15,000-member Jewish community have complained that vocal denunciations of Israel by President Hugo Chavez and Venezuela's state and pro-government news media may have encouraged the attack.
Chavez has condemned the attack, and suggested that government adversaries eager to portray his socialist administration as anti-Semitic could have been behind it.
Venezuela's Jews also are concerned about Chavez's increasingly close relationship with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
