Dozens of young men protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza briefly besieged a Paris synagogue and clashed with security.
At least three Jews were taken to hospital as a result of the clashes the erupted on Sunday between the protesters and young Jewish men who guarded the Synagogue de la Roquette in Paris, a witness told JTA.
“The attackers splintered off an anti-Israel demonstration and advanced toward the synagogue when it was full,” Alain Azria, a French Jewish journalist who covered the event told JTA.
Azria said that when the men arrived at the synagogue, located at the 11th Arrodissement near Dare de Lyon, there were only five police officers guarding the place. The police blocked the entrance to the synagogue while close to 200 congregants were inside and as the protesters chanted anti-Semitic slogans and hurled objects at the synagogue and its guards, Azria said.
“They were determined to enter and the police did not have enough forces,” he said.
According to Azria, the mob was kept away by men from the SPCJ Jewish security unit, the Jewish Defense League and Beitar, who engaged the attackers in what turned into a street brawl.
“Thank God they were there because the protesters had murder on their minds and it took a while before police reinforcements arrived,” Azria added.
The attack at the Synagogue de la Roquette came on the heels of several anti-Semitic incidents that coincided with Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which began on July 8.
In one attack in Belleville north of the French capital, a firebomb was hurled at a synagogue, causing minor damage. In another attack, a man sprayed pepper spray on the face of a 17-year-old girl.