14 hours ago
Man assaulted in S.F. in what friend decries as antisemitic attack: ‘Still in shock'
A man was assaulted in San Francisco's Marina District in what a friend who was with him decried Sunday as an antisemitic attack.
The assault occurred around 2:20 a.m. Friday on Fillmore Street near Moulton Street, police said. Officials described it only as an unprovoked attack.
Alana Gans, 28, told the Chronicle that she and her 27-year-old friend were sitting on a curb waiting for an Uber after a night out when a man near them started screaming, "F--- Jews, free Palestine.' Gans said the assailant shouted for about a minute before she told him she was Jewish and asked him to leave.
When she made the plea, he walked over and said, "F--- you," she said.
She stood up, as did her friend, who got in between her and the assailant, she said.
Two other men who were nearby took out their phones and started to record the commotion as they laughed. They, too, shouted, "F--- Jews," Gans said.
As she tried to pull her friend's arm to walk away, the assailant sucker-punched her friend, Gans said. Both she and her friend fell. Gans said she was unsure how she was knocked down: "I have no idea," she said. "I was just on the (ground)."
Other men joined the assailant and kicked her friend, repeated the anti-Jewish remarks and laughed, Gans said.
When an employee from the nearby Balboa Cafe tried to pull the men away, they pushed him to the ground and started kicking him, she said, adding that the entire attack lasted about 30 seconds.
Her friend suffered a swollen lip, as well as two bumps on the front of his head and another on the back of his head, she said.
The assailants ran away, only to return and yell, 'F--- those Jews,' Gans said. She pointed them out to officers, who detained the main assailant and two other men, she said.
Police said officers found a man suffering from injuries at the scene. They learned that a group approached the victim and a friend before the victim was assaulted without provocation.
The assailants took off, but officers located two suspects in the area, police said. One of them was arrested on suspicion of assault. The other was cited for battery and released.
"I'm still in shock," Gans said Sunday of the attack.
Gans said she believes it's important for "everyone to know that this is happening in their backyard."
Gans added that violence like the assault shows the urgent need to listen to one another regardless of ideologies. It's also an opportunity for the community to come together in a united front against hatred. "No one, no matter what, should be attacked,' Gans said.
