Police were hunting for a man who stabbed and wounded a Jewish woman in the French city of Lyon on Saturday, while a swastika was found graffitied at her home, police and the city’s mayor said.
PARIS – Police were hunting for a man who stabbed and wounded a Jewish woman in the French city of Lyon on Saturday, while a swastika was found graffitied at her home, police and the city’s mayor said.
“Such an act of violence is unthinkable. I offer all my support to the victim and her relatives,” said Lyon Mayor Gregory Doucet on the social media platform X.
A spokesman for the national police gave no further details about the suspect, and said he could not confirm whether police were treating the attack as an anti-Semitic hate crime.
Police in countries around the world have reported a surge in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic offences in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7.
Meanwhile, in central Paris, thousands marched on Saturday to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and castigated Israel after its military intensified its assault against Hamas.
It was one of the first, big gatherings in support of Palestinians to be legally allowed in Paris since the Hamas attack of October 7, with placards reading “Stop the cycle of violence” and “To do nothing, to say nothing is to be complicit.”
French authorities had banned some previous pro-Palestinian gatherings due to concerns about public disorder.
France will host an international humanitarian conference on Gaza on November 9 as it looks to coordinate aid for the enclave.
– REUTERS
