BERLIN, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The eastern German city of Halle remained in a state of shock on Thursday, a day after an anti-Semitic shooting which left two people dead.
Bernd Wiegand, mayor of Halle, said in an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF on Thursday that the city was "in a state of shock" after the attacks during Yom Kippur, also known as the Day of Atonement, which is the holiest day of the year in Judaism.
On Wednesday, an allegedly right-wing extremist had tried unsuccessfully to enter a synagogue in Halle during the Yom Kippur prayers.
After not being able to enter the synagogue, the attacker killed two people, one in front of the synagogue and one at a kebab shop in Halle. The attack was livestreamed on the streaming platform Twitch by Stephan B., the alleged attacker, who was caught by the police on Wednesday afternoon.
Anti-Semitic crimes have increased by almost 20 percent in Germany over the past year, according to official data published by the German Federal Criminal Police (BKA) in May.
The BKA statistic reported crimes such as insults, anti-Semitic slogans written on house walls and physical attacks.
Josef Schuster, president of the central council of Jews in Germany, told the public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk radio that the attack on the synagogue would change the feelings of Jewish people in Germany as "concern is spreading".
