Two teenage boys were charged with the gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a suspected anti-Semitic attack in a Paris suburb that has raised tensions in France ahead of snap parliamentary elections. French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday denounced the “scourge of anti-Semitism”, while far-right leader Marine Le Pen accused the “extreme left” of “instrumentalising” the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The suspected anti-Semitic attack in Courbevoie, a northwestern Paris suburb, has sent shockwaves in France in the run-up to a general election that could bring the far-right National Rally to power for the first time.
The girl told police she was approached by three boys aged between 12 and 13 while she was in a park near her home with a friend and dragged into a shed on Saturday evening in Courbevoie.
The suspects beat her and "forced her to have anal and vaginal penetration, fellatio, while uttering death threats and anti-Semitic remarks", a police source told AFP.
Her friend managed to identify two of the attackers.
The three boys were arrested on Monday.
On Tuesday evening, two of them, both aged 13, were charged with gang rape, anti-Semitic insults and violence and issuing death threats. The pair were taken into custody.
The third boy, 12, was also charged with anti-Semitic insults and violence and issuing death threats, but not with rape. He was allowed return home after being charged.
Le Pen accuses ‘extreme left’ of ‘stigmatisation’
French leaders across the political spectrum have expressed horror over the brutal attack of a minor.
President Emmanuel Macron told ministers Wednesday that a "scourge of anti-Semitism" threatens French schools.
Macron "spoke solemnly and seriously about the scourge of anti-Semitism" in a cabinet meeting, and called for a "dialogue" on racism and hatred of Jews in schools to prevent "hateful speech with serious consequences" from "infiltrating" classrooms, a source told AFP.
Political leaders on France’s hard right and left also condemned the attack, which came in the thick of a divisive campaign ahead of snap parliamentary elections later this month.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left France Unbowed party, denounced "anti-Semitic racism" in a post on X. Mélenchon is often accused by his political opponents of ambiguous comments on anti-Semitism.
On the other end of the political spectrum, far-right leader Jordan Bardella called for a “combat” against the "anti-Semitism that has swept down on France since October 7", referring to the Hamas attacks on Israel.
Fellow far-right politician Marine Le Pen attacked "the extreme left" and its alleged "stigmatisation of Jews over the past months through the instrumentalisation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict".
‘Abject act’
France, which is home to Europe's largest Muslim community, experienced a surge in anti-Semitic acts since the October 7 Hamas attack and the start of Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza.
France's chief rabbi Haim Korsia wrote on X that he was "horrified" and that "no-one should be excused in the face of this unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism".
Courbevoie's centre-right mayor Jacques Kossowski condemned what he called "an abject act" and called for the perpetrators to be met with the full force of the law "whatever their age".
Read moreFrance's Jewish community faces a surge in anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitic acts in France increased three-fold in the first months of 2024, compared to the same period a year ago, official figures show.
Of the 1,676 anti-Semitic acts recorded in 2023, 12.7 percent took place in schools.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
