March and counter-march have two views of anti-Semitic attack
Councilmember Inna Vernikov led a march Sunday afternoon to protest an attack on a Jewish man in Bay Ridge. The march assembled on Bay Parkway and 86th Street while a counter-march led by an ultra-Orthodox Jewish group took place across the street.
Blake Zavadsky, 21, was attacked outside Foot Locker on 86th Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenues Dec. 26. Zavadsky said he and a friend were waiting for the store to open when two men called them “dirty Jews” and asked them why they were in the neighborhood.
Zavadsky said the men told him to take off his Israel Defense Forces hoodie. When he refused, one of the men punched him twice and threw iced coffee on his sweatshirt. The other man told Zavadsky’s friend to not get involved or he would get hit too.