Three Jewish teenagers have been attacked by a group of Arabs in the French capital Paris on Saturday evening, a French police spokeswoman has said. The Jewish teens, ages 17 and 18, are leaders of the Bnei Akiva youth group in Paris' 19th District. Thierry Nebet, Dan's father, told the Israeli newspaper 'Ha'aretz' that according to what his son had said, as they were walking down the street, "Four or five Arabs of African origin started to throw walnuts at Kevin. When he went up to them to ask them why they did it, they surrounded him and knocked him down. Dan and David moved in and very quickly more Arabs joined in and started to beat the three with their fists and with chains."
The Jewish teens were hospitalized, one with a broken nose and jaw and all three with bruises, and filed a police report after their release. Police opened an investigation and are looking for the teenagers allegedly responsible for the attacks.
According to the head of the Jewish Students Union in France, Raphael Haddad, barrages of stones were thrown at the three teens during the attack. Haddad also said the incident had occurred on Petit Street in the 19th District, not far from where a 17-year-old Jewish youth was attacked and seriously injured by immigrants on June 21.
The attack iis the latest in a long series of racial attacks in Europe in general and in France in particular. France has Western Europe's largest population of both Jews and Muslims. President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the assault and Jewish organizations called it an act of anti-Semitism. Interior minister Michele Alliot-Marie issued a statement saying she "strongly condemned the anti-Semitic violence".
