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.
"...Muslim North African origin..."
Mmmmmmmmmmm, uh-huh.
Get ready Euro-weenies; this'll be derigeur all too soon enough. You'll rue the day you banned guns, let them in and did away with the death penalty.
Come to think of it, we're kind of doing the very same things...
Lock & load.
Savage says Brigdit Bardot in the last real Frenchman. He may be right
Double ditto for me.
This frantic effort at moral equivalency is getting to be almost a self-parody. The "racist acts against Muslims" have amounted to little more than harsh language. Meanwhile Jews are getting murdered, their synagogues are being torched, mothers with infants who only might be Jewish are attacked, and Rabbis are advising Jews not to appear to be Jewish in public.
Anyone who wants to claim the problem here is some sort of generic intolerance, or religion in general is either a raving lunatic, or a liar. The problem is Islam first, and French cowardice to confront it next.
Where's Bernie Goetz when you need him?
No one came to her rescue...all too worried about their own arses to help stop an attack on an innocent woman with a baby. Hmmmm. Not one person chose to put another's welfare above their own. Says a lot about the people of France, doesn't it?
Yes, this is a more informative story.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1089516099595
>>>""We asked for witnesses to come and testify," the source said, "but no one has done so yet." In the case of aggressions, witnesses do not dare testify because they fear the culprits would retaliate. In several recent occurrences not linked to anti-Semitic attacks, indicted youths threatened witnesses inside courthouses. The witnesses then refused to testify. Even judges are often threatened in court"
Sounds like a nation in fear.
Hoppy
Gotta disagree with you. A pack of animals attacked a mother and baby. The other 'sheep' stood by and did nothing.
This could have been stopped, even if they are french.
He's French
He's a rich woman's pet
He won't protect you
LOL! I would also add that he has nicely manicured hair, just like a poodle. So does his new poodle puppy, Edwards.
Nice try Chirac. He's asking the French to go against their very nature and denounce cowardliness. Might as well ask them to stop breathing.
France will no doubt decide to deport all it's jews. That ought to solve the problem.
Huh? I thought passivity and indifference were the cornerstones of Jaquie's belief system.
"...they let their elderly (10,000) die from the heat..."
The final, official count of les vacances mortel, the deadly vacation, was closer to 15,000, but a tally of cancelled old age state pensions for ninety days after August 31 is considered by some in France to be the true number and higher than 15,000.
Travel advisors urge Americans visiting France to respect French customs and culture. If another woman is attacked on a train, presumably American tourists on the same train would continue to read their maps or look out the windows at the passing scenery while ignoring the cries of the victim and the screams of her child. Perhaps there were Americans on that train.
Many young Americans travelling in Europe are mortified if the natives recognize them as American. American travellers fill the travel boards (Fodors, etc.) with questions about how best to conceal their origins, or if discovered, how best to ingratiate themselves to waiters, bus drivers, salespeople etc.
In practising the art of cringing and abasing oneself before our European betters, it is good to know that a sincere apology for the very existence of America and a display of abject shame that you are an American will win you the affection and respect of your French hosts.
Of course, it will do nothing of the kind, but then savvy travellers following the example of ex-patriate Americans in France, pack a supply of small American flags which can be handed out to passing Frenchmen along with disposable Bic lighters, (a few really nasal repetitions of je suis desolee would not be amiss here) and it's Bob's your uncle, or Jacque.
The Moslems are taking over France. The time has come to let the world know the truth about France, it has been overrun by the very nations it once invaded.
After decades long for-rays into Africa, the offspring of the French legions who brought them and the inlaws from African heritage, to the European table, have opened the flood gates, of northern Africa, and France as we knew her, is no more.
Ops4 God Bless America!
I'm not surprised.... they watched their own parents roast to death during the heatwave...the soul of france is black.
Nail on Head Award: I think it's time to change immigration policy to admit ONLY Jews and Christians, and deny mooSlims.
Ah, those brave frenchmen! Isn't there a drop of testosterone left in france? Are their men all castrated?
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