Not Safe Even in San Francisco?

By way of new blogroll member Skippy, this bit of scary news from just up the road in San Francisco tonight:

Elie Wiesel, the renowned Holocaust author and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was attacked and dragged out of a San Francisco hotel elevator last week, possibly by a Holocaust denier who claims to have stalked Wiesel for weeks, police said.

Wiesel, 78, was at the Argent Hotel Feb. 1 for a conference on “Facing Violence: Justice, Religion and Conflict Resolution” when he was confronted in an elevator by a man insisting that he wanted to interview the author, according to San Francisco Police Department Sgt. Neville Gittens.

Wiesel said he would do so in the hotel lobby, but the man insisted on going to Wiesel’s room. The man then stopped the elevator at the sixth floor and tried to force Wiesel into a room there.

“That’s when the victim started yelling,” Gittens said.

Wiesel escaped unharmed, made his way down to the lobby and called police.

I’m relieved that Wiesel is safe, and disgusted that someone should try to use physical force on him. It’s bad enough that there are people who refuse to believe the Shoah happened. It’s even worse that these revolting examples of personhood are so wrapped up in their hate and lies that they think they can use physical force on the living reminders of the truth.

UPDATE 2/18/07:
A suspect has been arrested in this case:

Montgomery Township police arrested Eric Hunt, 22, of Sussex County, N.J., at 1:30 p.m. EST Saturday. He faces charges that include attempted kidnapping, false imprisonment, elder abuse, stalking, battery and the commission of a hate crime, according to San Francisco police.

He was being held without bail in the Somerset County Jail in New Jersey, awaiting extradition to San Francisco.