The synagogue in Malmo, Sweden. Photo: WikiCommons.

JNS.org – A  38-year-old man was severely assaulted on Sunday after hanging an Israeli flag from his window in Malmo, Sweden, police said.

Prior to the beating, the man was reportedly engaged in a verbal dispute on the street and had a stone thrown at his window.

“After that the man went out onto the street to see what was going on. Then he was attacked and it was on the basis of the flag. That is the information we have at present,” Linda Pleym of the Malmo police told Sweden’s TT news agency.

The unidentified man was attacked by several assailants using metal bars.

“Our initial evaluation is that this is a hate crime,” Malmo policewoman Marie Keismar said.

A small Jewish community resides in Malmo, which is home to approximately 300,000 people—one-third of them Muslims. In recent years, several dozen anti-Semitic or anti-Israel attacks have occurred annually in the city.