A Palestinian man with an iron bar attacked a guard outside a Berlin synagogue on Tuesday, knocking him to the ground before the assailant could be restrained, German police said.

The attack appeared to be a protest against Israel's onslaught on Gaza. Police who arrested the suspect described him as stateless, but added that he termed himself Palestinian.

The other guards outside the synagogue caught the attacker. The assailant and another guard suffered minor injuries in the scuffle, while the guard hit with the bar was taken to hospital for treatment.

The old synagogue in Oranienburger Strasse, a central Berlin street, is a tourist attraction and has guards permanently standing outside and searching visitors because of the danger of attack by neo-Nazis.