Attack on protesters supporting hostages

A MAN yelling “free Palestine” used incendiary devices to torch protesters rallying in support of Israeli hostages, injuring at least eight people in the US state of Colorado on Sunday.

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The FBI said it was investigating the incident as a “targeted terror attack” and identified the suspect as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman.

He was booked into the county jail just before midnight on multiple felony charges, according to county records. His bond has been set at $10 million(R178.9m).

Police in the city of Boulder said it was too early to determine a motive for the attack, which took place shortly before 1:30 pm (7.30pm GMT) at a demonstration outside a mall.

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish activist group, said the “violent antisemitic attack” occurred at Sunday’s “Run for Their Lives” event, a weekly gathering of the Jewish community in solidarity with hostages seized during Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, sparking the war in Gaza.

FBI agent Mark Michalek told reporters the attack happened at a “regularly scheduled weekly peaceful event.”

“Witnesses are reporting that the subject used a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary into the crowd,” he said, adding that “the suspect was heard to yell: ‘Free Palestine!’