Racist and anti-Semitic violence in France nearly doubled in 2004, hitting its highest level in a decade and showing no sign of slowing, according to a study to be published Monday.
Jews and Muslims were the main victims of 1,565 recorded threats and violent attacks in 2004, up from 833 a year earlier, according to the National Consultative Commission of Human Rights annual report, which was being submitted Monday to Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.
It was the highest recorded number of attacks since 1994, said the report, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
Anti-Semitic acts rose to 970, compared with 601 the year before, the report said. Most attackers were from an "Arab-Muslim background," the newspaper Liberation reported.
Schools were an area where anti-Semitic incidents were "very present," the report noted, adding that "anti-Semitism is becoming established in a continuous and lasting manner."
Threats and attacks against Muslims more than doubled to 595 last year, up from 232, with the majority committed by far-right supporters.
The report underlined a "re-emergence of the far right" in France amid domestic debates on immigration and secularism at school as well as EU-wide concerns about whether to admit Turkey into the European Union (news - web sites) and the fear of terror attacks by Islamic fundamentalists. |
