Villeurbanne – Three young Jews wearing skullcaps have been severely attacked Saturday night in Villeurbanne, near Lyon, by ten people, described as being of North-African origin, who beat them with hammers and iron bars, an act denounced as “extremely serious” by French Interior Minister Manuel Valls.
The Interior Ministry says the attack by 10 assailants on the three people was anti-Semitic, and has called for the assailants to be brought to justice. Two of the victims were hospitalized.
The office of Manuel Valls said that police were mobilized to arrest those behind the attack a night earlier in Villeurbaine, near the city of Lyon.
The ministry said the assailants wielded a hammer and an iron bar.
One youth had an open wound to the head and a girl was struck in the neck, authorities said. The third was hit in the arm.
French Interior Minister Valls, denouncing the assault, said he was “determined to fight against any aggression of a religious nature.
“These extremely serious acts are a deliberate attack against our republic, which allows everyone, without exception, to live freely and in all safety in their religious affiliation,” his office said in a statement.
The victims were hospitalised but later released as police stepped up patrols in the neighbourhood.
