Here is a rough translation of “Agression d’un lycéen de confession juive : deux suspects en garde à vue,” by Jean-Marc Ducos in Le Parisien, July 5 (thanks to B.):
A 17-year-old was the victim of a violent anti-Semitic attack Wednesday night on a train from Lyon to Toulouse, the Interior Ministry announced Thursday.
Being forced to miss work for eight days, the young man complained to Lyon police on the night of the attack. His two alleged attackers were arrested and placed in custody in Lyon, according to reports.
The investigation was assigned to the Criminal Investigation Department of the Rhone. The victim, originally from Villeurbanne, a neighboring municipality of Lyon, was confronted by two suspects that afternoon.
The teenager is a student of Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse, where three children and a family were killed by Mohamed Merah on March 19. He had taken the train to meet his family. A source close to the investigation said that the attackers noticed a chain around his neck.
Aged about 18 years, the two suspects were arrested in an army recruitment office in Lyon. “These two young people came to take tests to join the army. They were arrested in the recruitment center” quartier général Frère, in the 7th district, said a spokesman for the southeast defense area. A police source told AFP that the two men, of North African origin, had no criminal record.
In its statement, the Interior Ministry stated this morning: “The identities of the two attackers are known to the work station of the railway police.” “Only the intervention of a passenger and SNCF controllers was able to put an end to violence,” noted Manuel Valls, who believes that “these acts of extreme violence are unacceptable.” The ministry said that the young man who was the victim of aggression was wearing “a distinctive religious symbol.” He “was attacked and insulted by two individuals. The teenager was then attacked at the platform toilets by the same two individuals, who beat him.”
The Interior Ministry promises “tough sanctions”
In a statement, the Interior expressed its determination “to combat all the resurgence of this great evil anti-Semitism,” “an affront to the values “‹”‹and history of our Republic.” “The laws of the Republic in response provide severe penalties,” warns the Department of Manuel Valls.
The president of the Jewish community of Toulouse believes that Jews are victims of a “difficulties that are becoming unbearable.” “We are facing a new anti-Semitism that is ravaging France, undoubtedly, the case of Merah seems to generate a lot of imitators,” said Arie Bensemhoun to AFP.
In early June, three young Jews wearing skullcaps were assaulted in Villeurbanne, a suburb of Lyon. These young men went to a service in a Jewish school when they were attacked with hammers and iron bars. Four alleged participants in the anti-Semitic attack were arrested and indicted for aggravated violence.
According to the Interior Ministry, anti-Semitic acts and threats have increased 46% from January to April 2012 compared to last year. But after a peak in March in the context of the killings of soldiers and Jewish children and a father to Montauban and Toulouse, the trend in other months is stable.