Two arrested following protest at Koreatown synagogue – NBC Los Angeles
Tensions flared at a synagogue Wednesday morning after protesters disrupted a non-public occasion on the place of worship in Koreatown.
Wilshire Boulevard Temple’s Senior Rabbi Joel Nickerson says their temple was internet hosting a public security occasion with Jewish and Korean leaders when the protesters disrupted the occasion round 10 a.m.
Rabbi Nickerson says the protesters used hateful language and broke a glass vase whereas inside. He added that their temple’s personal safety stepped in, and LAPD arrived shortly after, detaining not less than two individuals.
“We had individuals demonstrating with horrific anti-Semitic slurs, sneaking into the occasion with the need purely simply to disrupt this occasion,” mentioned Nickerson.
Video shared with NBC4 exhibits a number of protesters contained in the constructing, disrupting the continued occasion. The protesters finally moved outdoors, the place Rabbi Nickerson says they stayed for a number of hours in entrance of their temple, blocking the doorway and harassing individuals attempting to enter their synagogue.
“That is one thing that’s putting much more concern in Los Angeles for the Jewish group, one thing that we do not want,” mentioned Nickerson. “We have had sufficient concern for the final couple of years, and it is a time for all of us to come back collectively. We is not going to be intimidated by this.”
Mayor Karen Bass and different Jewish leaders condemn the incident, citing that antisemitism has no place in Los Angeles.
“This habits is abhorrent and has no place in Los Angeles. I spoke with Rabbi Nickerson to make sure he and his congregation know that the Metropolis of Los Angeles stands with them and absolutely condemns these assaults,” wrote Bass in a press release partly.
Officers took two individuals into custody, one for battery and the opposite for vandalism, in response to the LAPD.
Mayor Bass says extra LAPD officers might be patrolling close to areas of worship.
