Two young Jews were assaulted Friday afternoon on the street in Paris by a mob of about 40 people, an organization monitoring anti-Semitism in France reported.
The attack against the two young men, aged around 21, occurred on Boulevard Voltaire. The two young men were slightly injured, said the National Bureau of Vigilance against Anti-Semitism (BNVCA).
Police have launched an investigation into the incident and warned local Jewish businesses owners to be extra vigilant.
Sammy Ghozlan, president of BNVCA, denounced the attack against the two young men who were recognized as belonging to the Jewish community.
The BNVCA alerted police, who immediately sent forces to prevent an escalation of violence.
The gang of attackers was associated with anti-Israel groups Gaza Firm and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).
Witnesses on the scene said members of the Jewish community volunteered to watch over the many local Jewish businesses on Boulevard Voltaire.
In 2006, 23-year-old Ilan Halimi was kidnapped from a cell phone store on the same Boulevard Voltaire, tortured and ultimately killed by a gang.
Friday’s attack marks the latest in a growing anti-Semitic trend in France and Europe as a whole. Last January, an Islamist terrorist took hostages in a kosher supermarket in Paris and killed four Jews. Just a few weeks later, a security guard was killed in Copenhagen when a lone gunman opened fire in front of the city’s Great Synagogue.
This article was written by the European Jewish Press.