Paris: Tens of thousands of demonstrators joined in a protest against racism and anti-Semitism on Sunday, marching through Paris to show their disgust at the torture and killing of a Jew.
More than 30 thousand anti-racism protesters marched through Paris on Sunday. The demonstration came after a brutal torture killing of a Jew in Paris.
Smaller marches took place in other cities, including Lyon and Bordeaux, where Archbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard, named a cardinal last week by Pope Benedict XVI, took part.
The march drew an array of politicians, including Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, and representatives of the opposition Socialists, including Lionel Jospin, a former prime minister.
The killing of the Jewish man has raised fears about a new rise in anti-Semitism.
It however remains unclear whether anti-Semitism was actually the motive for the killing.
France has Europe's largest Jewish community, as well as the largest Muslim community in western Europe.
The march was in memory of a 23- year-old cellphone salesman, Ilan Halimi, who was kidnapped on Jan. 21 and allegedly tortured by a gang in the southern Paris suburb of Bagneux.
He was found naked, handcuffed and covered with burn marks on Feb. 13 near some railroad tracks south of Paris.
Halimi died while being taken to a hospital.
With AP inputs
Comments
0 comment