[PRCo] OT:__Only__In__America__-- Ooopps__Ah__Means__Fraahhhnce

[James B. Holland]

  Anti-semitic attack in France


      Mother's hair chopped, stomach etched with swastikas, clothes torn.


            By Elaine Ganley | Associated Press
            Published on Monday, July 12, 2004
            <http://www.examiner.com/archive/bydate.cfm/y/2004/m/7/d/12>
            URL: http://www.examiner.com/article/index.cfm/i/071204b_france
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PARIS -- Six people attacked a young mother on a suburban Paris train, 
chopping off her hair and scribbling swastikas on her stomach in what 
leaders denounced Sunday as an example of growing anti-Semitism.

As the 23-year-old woman was assaulted Friday, other train passengers 
watched but did nothing to help her or her infant child, who was knocked 
out of a stroller. Neither was seriously injured.

President Jacques Chirac expressed a sense of "dread" over the attack, 
Jewish and Muslim leaders condemned it, and politicians of all stripes 
voiced shock as news of the incident emerged.

"To be Jewish today in France has become an aggravating circumstance," 
said Sylvain Zenouda, of the International League Against Racism and 
Anti-Semitism.

According to police, the band of teenage attackers, armed with knives, 
grabbed the woman's backpack, taking her money and credit cards. When 
they saw that her identification card said she lived in the 16th 
district of Paris, they told the woman: "There are only Jews in the 16th."

The attack then became more than a robbery. Police said the suspects cut 
off the woman's hair and opened her shirt with their knives, using 
markers to draw swastikas on her stomach.

Deputy Minister for Victims Rights Nicole Guedj called on commuters who 
witnessed the attack to step forward. "Those who can help must do so 
today," she said on television. "It's the duty of every good citizen."

The Interior Ministry said the woman was not Jewish, and police said she 
no longer lives in Paris' 16th district. That the attackers mistook 
their victim's identity did nothing to soften the horror in France, 
where assaults on both Jews and Muslims have escalated over the past 
several years.

The Interior Ministry said Friday it had recorded 135 anti-Jewish acts 
in the first six months of this year, as well as 375 threats. The figure 
was nearly as high as the numbers from all of last year, when a total of 
593 anti-Jewish acts or threats were registered.

Racist attacks, often against Muslims, also rose. There were 95 attacks 
and 161 threats through June, compared to a total of 232 such crimes 
reported last year.

France is home to the largest Jewish and Muslim populations in western 
Europe, and Muslims are often blamed for attacks on Jews. The president 
of the umbrella group the French Council for the Muslim Faith, Dalil 
Boubakeur, called the attack "sickening" and "low-grade banditry." But 
he warned against blaming Muslims.