Anti-Semitic attack shocks France
An anti-Semitic attack on a young mother who was not Jewish has caused “dread” in France.
The mother, AGED 23, was with her 13-month-old baby in a pram on a Paris train when a gang of six cut her hair, tore open her shirt and drew swastikas on her belly, police said.
No one in the train came to her rescue.
President Jacques Chirac expressed a sense of “dread”, and others said it was a horrifying example of how anti-Semitism and racism are eating away at France. The bitter irony was that the victim was not Jewish.
“To be Jewish today in France has become an aggravating circumstance,” said Sylvain Zenouda, of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism.
The attack occurred about 9.30am on Friday, on a train that would normally have been filled with commuters.
News of it only began spreading over the weekend, leaving authorities, politicians and commuters stunned.
Police were still looking for the culprits, described as about 15 to 20 years old. Investigators combed surveillance cameras at stations in the area, north of Paris, hoping for clues.
Police said the young mother, not identified by name, was accosted by the gang of six, armed with knives, in what apparently began as a robbery.
They grabbed her backpack, taking money and a credit card but changed course when they saw an identity card. It showed that she lived in the well-to-do 16th district of Paris.
“There are only Jews in the 16th,” police quoted the culprits as saying.
They then cut her hair, using their knives “to keep a souvenir” and opened her shirt, also with knives, then drew swastikas on her belly with marking pen.
The 13-month-old infant fell from its pram in the melee. Neither the mother nor infant was seriously injured, police said.
The Interior Ministry pointed out that the young victim was not Jewish and police said she no longer lives in Paris’ 16th district.
That the band of six attackers mistook their victim’s identity did nothing to soften the reality of the horror for France, where attacks on both Jews and Muslims have escalated over the past several years.
In figures released on Friday – the day of the train attack – the Interior Ministry said hate crimes rose sharply in the first half of the year.
France is home to the largest Jewish and Muslim populations in western Europe.
Chirac denounced Friday’s “shameful act” and Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin ordered police to quickly find the culprits and ensure that severe punishment is meted out.
