Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday condemned an early morning attack on a synagogue in Melbourne that caused significant damage, calling it a “scandal”.
Police in Victoria state said arson and explosives investigators were on the scene of a suspicious fire at the Adass Israel Synagogue in the Ripponlea area of Melbourne’s south-east. The city is the capital of the South Australian state of Victoria.
“This is a shame,” Albanese told radio station ABC Melbourne. “The violence, intimidation and destruction at a place of worship is something we should never see in Australia. It puts lives at risk, it is clearly aimed at spreading fear in the community.”
Authorities received the call at about 4:10 a.m. Friday (5:10 p.m. GMT Thursday) and were told that two men were inside the synagogue and had poured liquid on the floor, police said.
A worshiper disturbed them and they fled, police said. The man who confronted the two reportedly suffered injuries to his hand and was treated at the scene, police said. There were no further injuries, but there was significant damage to the building.
“A door was banged on, some liquid was thrown in and it was set on fire, the few people in the synagogue ran out the back door, one of them got burned,” Adass board member Benjamin Klein said. Israel Synagogue, to ABC News.
Klein told ABC he believes the fire destroyed “an enormous amount of furniture, holy books and Torah scrolls.”
“It’s quite horrible and the community is really reeling from it,” he said.
