Massive riots in France feature antisemitic graffiti and chanting

The massive riots currently engulfing France have featured numerous instances of antisemitism.

The violent chaos that has spread across France and its overseas territories was sparked by the fatal shooting of a seventeen-year-old of Algerian origin by a police officer in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre. The officer has been charged with voluntary homicide and is in custody.

The riots have been particularly strong in neighbourhoods with large immigrant and Muslim populations, where cars have been torched and shops have been looted, with clashes with police, scores of arrests and hundreds of injuries.

But there has also been vandalism of Jewish sites and antisemitic chanting.

A monument in Nanterre commemorating the Holocaust and Jewish members of the French resistance to the Nazis was spray-painted with the phrase: “Police scum from Saint-Soline to Nanterre – don’t forget or forgive.” Not far from the monument, a building was graffitied with the words: “We are going to make you a Shoah.” The Shoah is the Hebrew term for the Holocaust.

The heavily-Jewish Parisian suburb of Sarcelles – nicknamed “little Jerusalem” for its large Jewish community – saw antisemitic chanting and the ransacking of Jewish businesses, along with non-Jewish businesses.

During a live broadcast of the riots by the Brut media group, chants such as “death to Jews” and “death to pigs” can reportedly be heard.

According to a report published by the French Jewish Community Security Service, antisemitic incidents in France have skyrocketed. 

Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on news and incidents relating to antisemitism in France and throughout Europe.