BERLIN (JTA) — A kippa-wearing Jewish man was attacked and robbed in an apparent anti-Semitic attack in a ferry and train station on the German island of Puttgarden.

The alleged attackers, refugees from Syria and Afghanistan, were later arrested by police. The attack took place early on Saturday morning and was reported Sunday in German media.

The alleged attackers called the 49-year-old French businessman “Jew” in Arabic, threw him to the ground, stepped on his hand and took his shoulder bag that contained money, a cell phone and other valuables.

The two men – a 30-year-old Syrian and a 19-year-old Afghani – were arrested on board a train heading to a refugee shelter in Neumünster, Germany. They had reportedly wanted to travel to Denmark on Friday but were turned back for lack of proper identification papers.

The victim of the attack, after testifying to police, continued on to his home in Morocco as planned. The stolen property was not recovered.

Instead of being held in pre-trial detention, the alleged perpetrators were released with the requirement to report to the court.

In 2015, an estimated 800,000 refugees from war-torn Muslim countries have sought asylum in Germany. Recently, Denmark and Sweden have reintroduced inner-European border controls in order to stop refugees from pouring in from Germany.

German Jewish leader Josef Schuster said in late 2015 that while openness to refugees is admirable, care must be taken to defuse and eradicate the anti-Semitic indoctrination that some Arab refugees might have brought with them from their home countries.

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