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Monday, 1 April, 2002, 14:23 GMT 15:23 UK
French Jews demand protection
![]() The Jewish Community warns of a wave of anti-Semitism
The Jewish community in France has demanded greater protection for Jews and their property after a series of weekend attacks which saw a Marseille synagogue burnt down.
French President Jacques Chirac has condemned the violence and vowed to "find and severely punish" the attackers. On Monday he visited a synagogue in Le Havre as a sign of solidarity. In the wave of attacks across France, shots were fired at a kosher butcher's and two other synagogues were damaged. In Belgium, Molotov cocktails were thrown at a synagogue. Ethnic tensions transposed In Marseille, the prefect, Yvon Ollivier, ordered 120 riot police to secure the 42 other synagogues and 17 Jewish schools in the city. "I call on the Jewish community to remain calm. The state intends to do the maximum to ensure the security of these places," he said.
Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said he would not "accept the spread of racism and anti-Semitism in our country". But Jewish leaders have said that there has been a worrying rise in anti-Semitism since the escalation of the Arab-Israeli conflict. They accuse the government of complacency over past attacks. Without decisive action, Jews would have to consider they were "living through the warning signs of a fresh Kristallnacht," the Union of Jewish Communities in France said, referring to the night in 1938, when German mobs embarked on a rampage of anti-Semitic violence with the backing of Adolf Hitler's Nazi government. The group also voiced concern about anti-Semitism expressed at pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
France has Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim communities. In Belgium, the increased tension in the Middle East has also been blamed for an attack on a synagogue in the Anderlecht district of Brussels. "There really is a climate of hostility which is resulting in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict being transposed into the most troubled districts of our capital," said local mayor Jacques Simonet. Series of attacks In total, over the weekend four synagogues were attacked and several other Jewish targets singled out, though no-one was seriously injured.
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