Another anti-Semitic attack in Hauts-de-Seine (92). The events took place not far from Courbevoie, where a 12-year-old girl was raped and assaulted against a backdrop of anti-Semitism on June 15. Last weekend, on the evening of Saturday June 22nd, a group of six minors were attacked as they left the So Ouest shopping centre in Levallois-Perret, on the edge of the 17th arrondissement of Paris. The six children, three boys and three girls aged between 11 and 14, who are siblings or cousins, had gone to see the animated film Vice-Versa 2 with their families. Some of them live in the 17th arrondissement. Shortly after 10pm, as they were leaving the cinema, a group of four boys, not much older, came towards them, according to a police source.
According to the account given by the victims’ family, the assailants first approached them, telling one of the boys (whom they had never seen, as he lives in Italy) “you insulted my mother, you’re going to pay”, before slapping him on the face. This was followed by other blows and insults such as “dirty Jews” and “we’re going to destroy the Torah”, all accompanied by comments such as “”on the Koran”, suggesting that the attackers were Muslims. One of the boys, dressed in white, was called a “faggot”, another was pushed to the ground, while the tallest girl in the group tried to intervene.
According to the family, a witness intervened, enabling the six children to escape. The four assailants nevertheless continued to pursue them. The victims finally found refuge at the Centre européen de Judaïsme, in the 17th arrondissement, where one of them had had his bar mitzvah a few weeks earlier. The six children were then cared for by police officers on site to ensure the safety of the premises.
The six minors were reunited with their parents that evening, who lodged a complaint. A video showing the start of the attack, recorded by one of the victims, was given to the police, according to the family, who were very shocked by what had happened. “We were told that this area of Levallois was not well frequented, that we had to be careful”, says the mother of three of the six victims, who explains that her children do not want to sleep alone or go out in the street. “They didn’t understand what was going on, why they were being attacked, or some of the insults being hurled”. Contacted by Valeurs actuelles, an elected official from the west of Paris confirmed: “It’s an area with a lot of social housing, with security problems, particularly brawls”. The 17th arrondissement of Paris has also regularly been the target of anti-Semitic or pro-Palestinian tags.
According to the Paris public prosecutor’s response to Le Figaro, the attack was deemed to be anti-Semitic in nature, given the insults uttered. In addition, two of the six victims were wearing necklaces with a metal plate reading “bring them home” in English and Hebrew, in reference to the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas. Initially handled by the Paris public prosecutor’s office, the case was finally transferred to the public prosecutor’s office in Nanterre (92), as the events took place in the department under the jurisdiction of this court.
