A thousand demonstrators marched yesterday evening, Tuesday June 25, from Place des Jacobins to Place des Terreaux to denounce the increase in anti-Semitic acts, a week after the rape of a Jewish teenager in the Paris region.
“We are strong, we are proud, we are Jewish and angry“, chanted the demonstrators as they went up from Place des Jacobins to Place des Terreaux, brandishing flags in the colors of the Republic and placards “Jews raped, Republic in danger“.
A rally against anti-Semitism in the center of Lyon mobilized around 1,000 people on Tuesday, according to the prefecture, ten days after the anti-Semitic rape of a 12-year-old girl in Courbevoie in Hauts-de-Seine.
In mid-June, the young girl was raped by teenagers who called her a “dirty Jew” and threatened with death in this suburban town northwest of Paris.
“What happened to this little girl is an infamy“, lamented the Renaissance deputy for the 13th constituency of Rhône, Sarah Tanzilli, who held at the head of the procession a banner “no to anti-Semitism, yes to the Republic”.
“Anti-Semitism and racism are not opinions, they are crimes. Some people keep blowing on the embers”
Sarah TanzilliRenaissance MP for the 13th constituency of Rhône
In the procession, Nathalie Levy came to demonstrate for “show our support as Jews to the entire community, in France, but not only“, in front of “anti-Semitism and the importation of a conflict thousands of miles away“.
“There are almost only Jews” in the demonstration, noted Daniela Touati, rabbi of the liberal Keren Or synagogue in Villeurbanne, seeing it as a sign of the isolation of her community.
Marching with a French flag in her hand, she said she had “fear of both extremes“, “on the eve of such a crucial election“.”Even if the far right doesn’t talk too much about Jews, we know perfectly well that it will happen if they are in power” she estimated.
