15-year-old sentenced for attack on German Jewish group

Hanover, Germany - A 15-year-old boy was given a suspended 15-month detention term Monday for a string of offences including his role in an attack in which gravel was thrown at a group of German Jewish children.

Several children of Arab origin yelled anti-Semitic abuse during the attack on the group, which was performing a traditional dance at a community arts festival last year in a public housing estate in the city of Hanover. One dancer suffered abrasions.

Police identified four boys of Arab origin as assailants but none of them were charged. Three were minors and the other, 19, was mentally disabled. The defendant, who is an ethnic German, not Arab, imitated the other four and was not openly anti-Semitic, judges said.