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A judge in Tunisia has ordered the detention of five people suspected of throwing Molotov cocktails at two synagogues during protests over price hikes. One of those Shuls is the historic El Ghriba shul in Djerba.

A court spokesman told The Associated Press on Thursday that the judge in Medenine ordered the suspects held pending trial. The suspects all are between 19 and 22 years old.

The Medenine court spokesman says early evidence makes authorities think the incident on the island of Djerba wasn’t terror-related. It happened during days of protests and rioting across Tunisia last week.

It appears the Molotov cocktails were thrown from the roof into the yard of the synagogue. Baruch Hashem the fire was quickly extinguished, limiting the damage.

Mainly Muslim Tunisia has a Jewish minority of fewer than 1,800 people. Nearly half of the Jews who remain in Tunisia live in Djerba. Jews have lived in Tunisia for over 2,000 years and Djerba is home to Africa’s oldest synagogue, El Ghriba, located in the village of Hara Sghira.

The current building was constructed in late 19th or early 20th century, but the site is believed to have housed a synagogue for the past 1,900 years.

Thousands of Tunisian Jews from around the world have for centuries made an annual pilgrimage to the Ghriba on Lag Ba’Omer.

According to one tradition, the El Ghriba synagogue was established by a group of Kohanim from the Bais Hamikdash, who supposedly settled on the island immediately after the destruction of the first Bais Hamikdash. (The tradition holds that the refugees brought a door and a stone from the destroyed Bais Hamikdash with them.)

On April 11, 2002, just before the pilgrimage, a truck full of explosives was detonated close to the synagogue, killing 21 people of whom 14 were German tourists, five Tunisians and 2 Frenchmen, and wounding over 30. Al Qaeda had claimed responsibility.

(AP)