Security guards at a shopping center in Offenbach, western Germany, have been accused of forcing a rabbi to delete photos he took as evidence after being attacked by a group of youths. Rabbi Mendel Gurewitz said he was verbally abused, followed, and physically attacked last Sunday in the KOMM-Center shopping arcade by a group of around ten youths.According to a report in Die Welt, security personnel demanded that the rabbi delete photos he had taken of his attackers, as did a police officer on the phone. The officer has since apologized.
Gurewitz also said the guards had left him to leave the center on his own, and had been followed by his assailants until he was picked up in a car by an acquaintance passing by chance.
Darmstadt police confirmed that an investigation into suspected abuse and bodily injury had begun.
The center's manager Frank Middendorf said that the actions of security personnel would be "thoroughly investigated." He added that he had apologized to a Jewish community organization and would meet representatives in the coming week.