Free Republic

The French National Bureau of Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism (BNVCA) reported that two Jewish teens were assaulted and robbed while leaving a synagogue in Marseille, and as a result of the attack required medical treatment. The attack by two assailants "of African origin" according to the victims occurred on Tuesday. There are many Muslim African immigrants in France, increasing the likelihood of religious hatred being a prime motivator in the crime. Making that likelihood undeniable is the fact that before attacking, the assailants said "dirty Jews, we will exterminate all of you," according to the teens. One of the teens told...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered 300 illegal camps of travellers and Roma to be dismantled. People in the camps found to be living illegally in France would be expelled, he said. The order is a response to riots last week in which travellers attacked police in a Loire Valley town after a youth was shot dead. The government said the camps are sources of crime but critics say an ethnic minority is being singled out. "Within the next three months, half of the illegal camps will be dismantled - camps and squats - that is to say some 300,"...

A French goat has tested positive for mad cow disease - the first animal in the world other than a cow to have bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The European Commission says further testing will be done to see if the incidence is an isolated one. The animal, which was slaughtered in 2002, was initially thought to have scrapie, a similar brain-wasting condition sometimes seen in goats. But British scientists have now confirmed the disease was in fact BSE. More than 100 people in the UK have died from vCJD (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease), the human form of BSE, after eating tainted...

Rwanda is to investigate France's alleged role in the mass killing of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994. The Rwandan government said it was setting up an "independent commission charged with assembling the evidence of France's involvement in the genocide". Rwanda has regularly accused the French of aiding and abetting the Hutu extremists who killed 800,000 people. Paris denies responsibility - although it has admitted supporting Rwanda's former Hutu-led government. The current Rwandan government, which took over after the genocide, argues that Paris knowingly armed the killers and provided an escape route after their defeat.