Warsaw, Poland — Polish police arrested a 16-year-old boy on suspicion of attacking a synagogue with Molotov cocktails and said they plan to ask prosecutors on Thursday to open an investigation.
The Nożyk synagogue was attacked at around 1am on Wednesday and its façade suffered some damage. There was no one in the prayer room at the time and there were no injuries.
Police, in cooperation with the Internal Security Agency, arrested the 16-year-old Polish boy in Warsaw on Wednesday night.
“He was completely surprised, he didn’t want to talk, he didn’t reveal his motives,” police spokesman Robert Szumiata told the PAP news agency.
Szumiata said police will send a request to the prosecutor’s office on Thursday to launch an investigation. The teenager, who has no police record, could face up to 10 years in prison if he is convicted.
He must be investigated under an article of the Penal Code that states that “whoever causes an event that threatens the life or health of many people or large property, in the form of a fire, will be punished with up to 10 years in prison.” in prison.”
The court will have to decide whether the 16-year-old will be held responsible for the act as an adult, the police spokesman said, according to PAP.
Poland, which until the Holocaust was home to Europe’s largest Jewish community, with some 3.3 million inhabitants, now counts a few thousand Jewish residents in its population.