Posted on 07/11/2004 10:50:19 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
PARIS - A gang of young men attacked a woman riding a suburban train with her infant, cutting her hair and drawing swastikas on her stomach. Other passengers watched but did nothing, police reported.
French politicians issued denunciations Sunday as news of the Friday morning attack spread through the nation.
Police said the gang of six set upon the 23-year-old woman on a suburban train north of Paris and grabbed her backpack where they found identity papers that showed an address in the capital's well-to-do 16th district. "There are only Jews in the 16th," one of the group of attackers said.
The young woman, who was not identified, was not Jewish and no longer lived in the district, police said.
The gang then pushed her and cut her hair "to keep a souvenir," police said. The attackers opened her shirt, reportedly with a knife, before drawing swastikas on her stomach with a marking pen. The 13-month-old infant fell from its stroller in the melee. Neither the mother nor infant was seriously hurt, police said.
Police described the gang as ages 15 to 20 and said some appeared to be of Muslim North African origin.
The attack occurred a day after President Jacques Chirac denounced mounting racial intolerance in France, calling for drastic change "at the risk of indifference and passivity."
According to the police account, none of the passengers on the train came to the woman's rescue.
Chirac denounced Friday's "shameful act" and Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin ordered police to find the culprits "as quickly as possible."
Roger Cukierman, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France, said that, in the face of rising anti-Semitism, government decisions are no longer sufficient.
"Each one of us must truly feel threatened by this phenomenon," Cukierman said on France-Info radio. "This is not a problem of Jews but of France."
On Thursday, a day before the attack, Chirac traveled to Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a small town that sheltered some 5,000 Jews from Nazi occupiers during World War II.
"I ask (the French) to remind their children of the mortal danger of fanaticism, of exclusion, of cowardliness and resignation to extremism," he said.
Anti-Semitic acts have been on the rise in France over the past few years, but recently have spiked, with 135 registered in the first half of this year — more than the total reports last year. The rise in anti-Semitic acts has been accompanied by racist acts against Muslims.
Guess today it's every man (or woman and baby) for themselves. Those who did not rise to help this woman are shameless cowards. Typical ...
Didn't France also vote on the International Court to convict Israel for erecting the fence and order that it be removed? The holocost wasn't an aberration of the European mindset, it was the epitome of it.
And then start doing it now.
We cannot just sit back idly and watch it happen all over again, and we know it's starting.
How do we help?!?
Is this 1945 again?
That's really sad. I don't know what's the matter with people who won't help another in need. Fortunately she nor the baby were hurt badly, but it could have been much worse. I hope they find those who were responsible and punish them severely.
Bush (and Congress and the Senate approved it) recently changed 30 years of diplomatic policy and sided 100% with Isreal in official policy. It is us (Judaeo / Christian) agains them (Muslim). Stand by for heavy rolls (Navy term)
Probably closer to 1936 ... we see the storm clouds gathering ... and once again we will do nothing.
No, more like 1936 to 1939!
DKK
???
The terrorists are trying to spark the final war. Chas Manson was trying to do something similar. Crazy? Certifiable.
Word is that Senator Kerry has seen this article and called in his future ambassador for World Peace, Rodney King...who asked "Why can't we all just get along?"
Oh, well now that certainly did a whole lot of good, Jacques!
That was Kitty Genovese.
Ideal citizens of a "compassionate" socialist state. Do nothing, see nothing, and wait for the police to (eventually) take care of the problem. Actually, I bet some thought of helping but were afraid of being tried for a hate crime -- "These innocent youngsters were just having harmless fun and you committed violence by punching them." Far from creating a sense of community, socialism fosters an every man for himself attitude, as you noted, where people are conditioned to be like sheep.
More informative story:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1089516099595
More accurate title:
Muslim Gang Attacks Mother on French Train
While I have no particular love for the French, it is their uncontrolled immigration policy that now has the French over a barrel...a lesson to take note of for other countries with open borders.
Who cares if the French don't "like" us. They are anti-semities, burn Synagogues, desecrate Jewish cemeteries, let their elderly (10,000) die from the heat as they vacation and let Iraqi children starve as they profited from the UN Oil For Food program.
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