In the French capital Paris, a hand grenade has been thrown at a synagogue in the Saint-Denis suburb, setting fire to a adjacent Jewish restaurant. According to Sammy Ghozlan, head of the National Bureau of Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, a witness saw three people fleeing the scene. Ghozlan said he had warned local authorities last week that a protest demonstration against Israel's operation in Gaza would incite to violence and Jewish hatred. He asked for the demonstration to be prohibited.
French interior minister Michèle Alliot-Marie condemned this "coward and intolerable attack with the utmost firmness." In a statement, she said that all efforts would be made "to find the perpetrators of the attack and bring them to justice." France has witnessed around 30 anti-Jewish incidents since the Israeli military operation started in Gaza end of December.
Last week, arsonists rammed two cars packed with petrol bombs into a synagogue in the southern French city of Toulouse. One car was set on fire and pushed by the other until it hit the door of the synagogue, at a time when about a dozen people were attending a class with a rabbi. The building caught fire but all those inside escaped unharmed.