2014 Sarcelles riots (original) (raw)

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2014 Sarcelles riots
Sarcelles, France
Location Sarcelles, France
Date July 20, 2014 (2014-07-20)
Target Jewish-owned businesses and a synagogue
Attack type Riot
Motive Anger against Israeli actions in Gaza

On Sunday, 20 July 2014, a pro-Palestinian protest against the Israeli ground invasion of Gaza degenerated into an antisemitic riot in Sarcelles, France. An illegal demonstration gathered about 500 persons (the police[1] and organisers[2] having similar figures), without incident, but the riots broke out quickly after the dispersion of the demonstration, starting with 50 protesters provoking the police and eventually involving up 300 people according to the report of the riot police. Jewish-owned businesses and non-Jewish owned businesses were attacked and looted by local youths armed with metal bars and wooden clubs. Members of La Ligue de défense juive (LDJ, Jewish Defense League) were present in Sarcelles, and attempted to defend a synagogue by forming a line in front of it and holding motor-cycle helmets as weapons. Palestinian groups accused the League of provoking the attack by taunting demonstrators and throwing projectiles.[3]

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations

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The Operation Protective Edge created a lot of emotions in France, in particular within the French population of Arab descent. This social composition of the pro-Palestinian is both put forward by radical-left and post-colonial groups[4] and by right-wing medias,[5] and most of the events occurred in low-income and high-immigration neighbourhoods. However, after having given an unusually direct support to Israel,[6] the French government took a hard stance and forbid almost every pro-Palestinian demonstration. The interdictions begun around 14 July, mostly presented as technical and due to the overlap with the festivities of the national holiday,[7] but not everywhere.[8] Then the justifications put forward for later interdictions quickly became[9] the clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel activists, which begun as soon as 13 July.[10][11] This led to many illegal demonstrations during this month, in a context of tensions. In particular those of Barbès[12][13] and Sarcelles.[14] Those demonstrations have often been described as antisemitic, and many comments pointed out the presence of Islamic or ethnic ("communautaristes") orientations[15][16] inside those demonstrations, although they have mostly been organised by the radical left and the far-left (in particular the NPA[17]). Some incorrect news was broadcast and corrected afterwards,[18] while we have oral reports of antisemitic sentences which are hard to check (such as the rumour of a "Mort aux Juifs !", "Death to the Jews!") but a few pictures from the Dieudonné sphere can be found.[19] In parallel, the pro-Israel counter-demonstration in Sarcelles was forbidden as well, since groups such as Jewish Defense League have already participated in several violent confrontations with pro-Palestinian demonstrators in the previous days.[20]

Claims of rising of antisemitism

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France has the third largest community of Jews after Israel and the U.S. and antisemitism in France has increased significantly in recent years with one monitoring group claiming that it has increased 700% since the 1990s.[21] Since the beginning of the 21st century, antisemitism in France has found new sources of recruitment from certain leftist groups and in the identification of a significant proportion of the Muslim immigrant population with the Palestinian cause on the one hand and with radical Islamism on the other.[22][23][24] By early 2014 the number of French Jews immigrating to Israel had overtaken the number of American Jews and at the same time 70% of French Jews were concerned about insults or harassment and 60% about physical aggression because of their Jewishness, both figures being much higher than the European average.[25]

A kosher grocery store was set ablaze, for which the perpetrator was convicted of arson.[26]

Government response

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Prime Minister of France Manuel Valls condemned the attack as antisemitic. He said of the attack, "What's happened in Sarcelles is intolerable: attacking a synagogue or a kosher grocery, is quite simply anti-Semitism, racism."[27]

Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve said that the violence prompted the ban, not that the ban prompted the violence.[27]

Three men, aged 21 and 28, were jailed for between six and ten months for their part in the riot. A fourth man received a suspended sentence, and a minor received a fine. Three other men received suspended sentences for their part in a riot in Paris on the same day. None of the convictions in Sarcelles were for 'anti-Semitism'. Instead they were for minor public order offences. The term 'riot' was never used by police or prosecutors.[28]

  1. ^ "Ce que révèlent les comptes-rendus de la police sur ce qui s'est réellement passé à Barbès et à Sarcelles". Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  2. ^ "Gaza. Après le rassemblement de Sarcelles, communiqué d'Ensemble Val d'Oise". 21 July 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  3. ^ Bilefsky, Dan (6 August 2014). "A Militant Jewish Group Confronts Pro-Palestinian Protesters in France". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 August 2015. ...French offshoot of the Jewish Defense League, a far-right Zionist group...
  4. ^ "Génération Gaza 2014 : enjeux et stratégies". 9 October 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  5. ^ Haziza, Frédéric (22 July 2014). "Haziza : "On a fait preuve de trop de laxisme envers l'antisémitisme des quartiers"". Retrieved 10 August 2017 – via Le Figaro.
  6. ^ "Entretien avec le Premier ministre israélien - Présidence de la République". Archived from the original on 2015-07-29. Retrieved 2015-08-13.
  7. ^ lefigaro.fr (13 July 2014). "Lille: une manif pro-palestinienne interdite". Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  8. ^ "Manifestation en soutien à Gaza à Nice, malgré l'interdiction préfectorale". Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Manifestations pro-palestiniennes : les préfets appelés à la vigilance". 14 July 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  10. ^ "Que s'est-il vraiment passé rue de la Roquette le 13 juillet ? - France 24". 16 July 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  11. ^ Borredon, François Béguin et Laurent (14 July 2014). "La France s'inquiète d'une " importation " du conflit israélo-palestinien". Le Monde.fr. Retrieved 10 August 2017 – via Le Monde.
  12. ^ "La préfecture veut interdire une manifestation propalestinienne à Paris". Le Monde.fr. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2017 – via Le Monde.
  13. ^ "Manifestation en soutien à Gaza interdite à Paris : des dizaines d'interpellations - France 24". 19 July 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  14. ^ "Interdiction des manifestations pro-palestiniennes à Paris et en banlieue - France 24". 18 July 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  15. ^ Nationale, Assemblée. "Question n°2064 - Assemblée nationale". questions.assemblee-nationale.fr. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  16. ^ Boni, Marc de (22 July 2014). "Estrosi : les propalestiniens "sont les mêmes" que ceux qui alimentent le djihad en Syrie". Retrieved 10 August 2017 – via Le Figaro.
  17. ^ (Montpellier), Antoine (30 July 2014). "NPA. Communiqué : manifs pour Gaza. Notre camarade Alain Pojolat convoqué devant les tribunaux !". Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  18. ^ "Manifs pro-Gaza en France: les erreurs des médias". 21 July 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  19. ^ "Dessins affichés dans la manifestation pour Gaza". sanidessinateur.blogspot.co.uk. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  20. ^ "Incidents Rue de la Roquette: deux versions s'opposent". Retrieved 10 August 2017.
  21. ^ "Anti-Semitic attacks rise in France as Gaza conflict stirs tensions". Financial Times. 15 August 2014.
  22. ^ Smith, Craig S. (26 March 2006). "Jews in France Feel Sting as Anti-Semitism Surges Among Children of Immigrants". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-04.
  23. ^ New York Times Magazine: "A Frenchman Or a Jew?" By Fernanda Eberstadt February 29, 2004
  24. ^ Haaretz: "French hatred of Jews goes far beyond Muslim anti-Semitism, says U.K. author" by Daniella Peled February 18, 2014
  25. ^ "Alarmed by anti-Semitism, French Jews consider flight". DW.DE. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  26. ^ Butnick, Stephanie (5 November 2014). "Paris Kosher Supermarket Arsonist Sentenced". Tablet. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  27. ^ a b "Gaza conflict: France criticises 'anti-Semitic' riot". BBC News. 21 July 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  28. ^ "Gaza conflict: France jails pro-Palestinian rioters". BBC News. 23 July 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2015.