Eight injured in Mall Boulder as suspects “free Palestine”

Many people were injured after a man shouting “Free Palestine” threw Molotov cocktails to support Israeli hostage in Colorado, authorities said.

Police said eight people – ages 52 to 88 – were injured in the attack in the Pearl Street mall, a popular open space in Boulder, about 30 miles (48 km) from Denver.

The FBI called it a suspected terrorist attack and said that the suspect used an improvised fire, Molotov cocktails and other ignition devices.

The footage of the attack shows a suspect that was without a shirt, screaming at the group and had what it seemed was Molotov’s cocktails in every hand when he was arrested.

The attack unfolded during a weekly planned demonstration, set by Run for Lives, a pro-Israeli group that conducts a walking mall in pedestrians in solidarity with Israeli hostage in Gaza.

Police call around 13:26 local time (20:26 BST) for a man with weapons and people who are set on fire, said Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfered at a press conference.

Employees who responded have found many people injured, including those with burns.

Witnesses told the authorities that the suspect had used “improvised firearms and caught an ignition device in the crowd,” said Mark Mihalek, who runs the FBI office in Denver.

Redfearn added that these devices include Molotov cocktails that are thrown at the crowd.

Mihalek identifies suspects such as Mohammed Sabri Soliman, 45.

Soliman is an Egyptian citizen, government officials told the US partner of BBC CBS News.

In 2022, Soliman arrived in California at a non -Migrant visa, which expired in February 2023, numerous sources told CBS News. He lived in Colorado Springs.

The footage that looked from the attack showed a chaotic scene: smoke filled with air, people running in multiple directions, patches of grass and people injured on the ground.

Caution: This story contains details that some readers can find disturbing.

In images and videos posted online but has not yet been checked by the BBC, a man who looks like the suspect is visible without a shirt and holds bottles of liquid with a piece of red cloth inside. He may be heard screaming at the crowd and seems to be progressing on them until some haste to run.

As she screams, a woman is on the ground and looks wounded. People surround her and a man pours water into her body.

The footage shows that the police rushed to the scene and arrested suspects. Police say he was taken to the hospital with injuries.

“It is clear that this is a purposeful act of violence and the FBI investigates this as terrorism,” said G -n Mihalek. “Unfortunately, attacks like this are becoming too common throughout the country.”

The attack is the second high -profile act of violence in the United States in the last two weeks associated with the Gaza conflict.

A man who called “Free Palestine” Fatally shot two Israeli Embassy officials Outside the Jewish Museum in Washington on May 22nd. The incident happened at an event on a network organized by a Jewish organization.

Colorado Prosecutor Phil Weizer said that from what employees know the attack “seems to be a crime of hatred, given the group that was directed”.

“People may have different views on world events and the Israeli-Ham conflict, but violence is never the answer to the settlement of differences,” Weizer said in a statement on Sunday. “Hate has no place in Colorado.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon S’ar said he was “shocked” by the incident and called the attack “pure anti -Semitism”.

“Shocked by the terrible anti -Semitic terrorist attack aimed at Jews in Boulder, Colorado,” he writes to X. “This is pure anti -Semitism, nourished by the blood slander spread in the media.”

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, was similarly saddened by the attack, calling it “terrorism” and wanted “specific actions” in response.

In a publication by X, the ambassador said Jewish protesters were brutally attacked. “

“Terrorism against the Jews does not stop at the border with gas – it is already burning the streets of America,” he said.