Two adolescent boys in a Paris suburb have been provisionally charged with raping a 12-year-old girl and religiously motivated violence, French authorities said on Wednesday. A Jewish leader said the girl is Jewish.
The attack caused widespread shock and concern, particularly after a wave of anti-Semitic acts in France since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. President Emmanuel Macron asked schools this week to hold a 'discussion hour' for teachers to talk to their students about racism and anti-Semitism, following the incident.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office for the Nanterre region, the girl told police that she had been raped by boys who made anti-Semitic comments.
Macron quickly condemned the incident and called for discussions in schools as he battles for his political future, with France in the middle of a surprise three-week election campaign. Macron called early parliamentary elections in the wake of a disappointing result for his party European Parliament elections earlier this month.
On Wednesday, the president's office said Macron had asked Education Minister Nicole Belloubet “to organize a discussion in all schools on the fight against anti-Semitism and racism, to prevent hate speech from infiltrating schools with serious consequences.”
The girl reported the rape in the town of Courbevoie on Saturday and three boys aged 12 and 13 were arrested, according to the regional prosecutor's office. It said two of the boys were charged with multiple preliminary charges on Tuesday, including aggravated gang rape of a minor under the age of 15, violence and public insult motivated by religion, death threats, attempted extortion and unlawfully recording or broadcasting sexual images.
The two boys are in custody pending further investigation, the Public Prosecution Service said. The third boy was named as an assisting witness in the alleged rape and was placed in a special education program.
The prosecutor's office did not specify the girl's religion or release her identity, in line with victim protection policies common in hate crimes in France. French media reports and the mayor called it an anti-Semitic attack and identified the girl as Jewish.
Dylan Martinez/REUTERS
Later, lawyer and Jewish leader Elie Korchia said in an interview with French broadcaster BFM that the girl is Jewish and that the attack referred to the war in Gaza.
Protesters gathered outside Paris City Hall for a demonstration condemning anti-Semitic violence and threats, holding signs reading “It could have been your sister” and “Our lives are worth more than the conflict's imports,” Reuters reported.
Political leaders from across the spectrum denounced the attack. France's snap parliamentary elections will take place in two rounds, on June 30 and July 7, and the far-right National Rally party, currently leading in opinion polls, has tried to make security and immigration key issues in the campaign.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin described the attack as “terrible” and said police were limited in their ability to prevent such violence. ''It's a problem of parents… of authority. It is a problem of society as a whole,” he said on BFM television.
