Boy beaten near Paris Jewish school

A 12-year-old boy was beaten outside his Jewish school in Paris by youths reciting anti-Semitic slogans, school officials say, amid continued high security and tensions in France.

The school's human resources director, Katia Normal, said Tuesday that the child was hit and punched in the back of his head on Monday afternoon as he left school in the capital's southeast, but did not suffer serious injuries.

Emotions have been running high, especially within the half-million-strong Jewish community, since a gunman shot a rabbi and his two sons, 3 and 5 years old, and the 8-year-old daughter of the principal of a school in the southern city of Toulouse on March 19.

Speaking after the attack, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe expressed his "dismay" after "the hateful anti-Semitic attack."

"I have learned with dismay the hateful anti-Semitic attack," said the Mayor in a statement on Tuesday. He said he reiterated his "determination to fight tirelessly against anti-Semitism".

Both the school shooting and the beating took place at Ozar Hatorah network Jewish schools.

Normal said the aggressors in Monday's incident were two boys a couple of years older than the victim, and they recited anti-Semitic slogans.

The attack happened about 100 meters from the entrance and therefore out of sight of police officers who had been guarding the school since President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered security increased at Jewish and Muslim schools and synagogues after last week's shooting.

An official with the Paris police said the school reported Monday's incident but did not elaborate on what happened because it involves a minor.

Jean-Paul Amoyelle, president of the Ozar Hatorah network in France, told The Associated Press that a feeling of solidarity existed for the network's schools after the Toulouse shootings.

"Now I fear that this has provoked a hostile reaction, shown by the attitude of these boys who called him 'dirty' Jew and beat him up," he said. "We have to be vigilant, because this could lead to more aggression."

France is deep in an election campaign that has touched on questions about French identity. Jews are shaken by last week's killings, and France's large Islamic community — estimated at 5 million — fears a backlash because the killer was Muslim.

Ynet