An investigation was opened after the attack of a 21-year-old Jewish student in Marseille.
The investigations are being carried out for “aggravated violence with a weapon against a victim due to belonging to a religion and extortion of funds and values aggravated due to belonging to a religion”, detailed the public prosecutor of Marseille, Dominique Laurens.
According to the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif) Marseille Provence, which “strongly” condemned this attack, this young person wearing a kippah was heading to the synagogue for Shabbat in the 13th arrondissement.
The attackers then pretended to rush towards him, uttered antisemitic insults and threatened him to get on his knees. Once on the ground, they stole his watch and bracelet.
The Crif also indicates that it will join the victim’s complaint and will become a civil party, “taking into account the aggravating circumstance of anti-Semitism”. And calls on the authorities “for increased vigilance as well as a strong judicial response, commensurate with the seriousness of the attack”.
“This despicable act must not go unpunished. We must intensify the fight against antisemitism which has been sweeping through our country since the beginning of this century,” reacted LR president of the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis Martine Vassal, on X (formerly Twitter).
On the same social network, the mayor of Marseille Benoît Payan, also condemned “firmly”, estimating that “antisemitism, hateful violence, rejection and discrimination are contrary to the values of our city.”
