Holocaust Author Elie Wiesel Attacked In San Francisco

Holocaust author Elie Wiesel attacked in San Francisco

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Ho...d_in_0210.html

Published: Saturday February 10, 2007

Elie Wiesel, the renowned Holocaust author and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was attacked and dragged out of a San Francisco hotel elevator last week.

Citing police officials, The San Francisco Chronicle said Wiesel was possibly assaulted by a Holocaust denier who claims to have stalked him for weeks.

Wiesel, 78, was at the Argent Hotel on February 1 for an interfaith conference when he was confronted around 6:30 pm in an elevator by a man insisting that he wanted to interview the author, the report said.

Wiesel said he would do the interview in the lobby of the Third Street hotel, but the man insisted on going to Wiesel's room, said the paper.

The man then stopped the elevator at the sixth floor, dragged Wiesel out and tried to force him into a room on that floor, The Chronicle reported.

"That's when (Wiesel) started yelling," the paper quotes police Sergeant Neville Gittens as saying.

The man fled, and Wiesel, who was not injured, went down to the lobby and called police.

Wiesel decided to leave the conference on "Facing Violence: Justice, Religion and Conflict Resolution," and police escorted him to the airport, the paper said.

On Tuesday, a man identifying himself Eric Hunt and claiming to be the attacker posted an account of the incident on a virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Israel website, The Chronicle said.