French President Emmanuel Macron has said schools in France are falling victim to the “scourge of antisemitism” after a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped.
The girl said she was with her friend in a park Courbevoie, north-west of Paris, when three boys approached her and dragged her to an isolated location before raping her last Saturday.
The girl said that the three reportedly aged 12, 13 and 14, hurled anti-semitic abuse at her during the assault.
Three boys were arrested on Monday with two of them being charged with gang raping the girl.
It was also reported that one of the boys had threatened to kill the victim if she went to the police.
The incident has sparked outrage in France with protests being held in response.
France 24 reported that hundreds of people gathered at Paris City Hall with demonstrators chanting “Jews are threatened, the republic is in danger,” while banners held by some said, “It could have been your sister.”
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said that “since Oct. 7, we’ve seen a form of unbridled antisemitism develop and break free. And I think that political leaders and political parties have a responsibility to put up barriers, to prevent a certain amount of rhetoric from becoming commonplace.”
La Parisien reported that one of the three boys accused of involvement in the alleged attack was the victims ex-boyfriend and that the rape took place in an abandoned shed.
Reporting information which it says was attained by a “source close to the investigation” it said that the girl was allegedly “forced” to perform “fellatio” and that “anal and vaginal penetration” had also been forced on her while “death threats and anti-Semitic remarks,” were made to her.
It was also reported that during police interviews, the accused boys made a partial admission to the charges against them “claiming to have acted out of revenge”.
La Parisien says that the boy it describes as the victim’s former boyfriend “said he was angry because the victim hid her Jewish religion from him.”
It further states that “investigators allegedly found anti-Semitic comments and images, including that of a burned Israeli flag.”
The second minor allegedly “told the police that he had hit the young girl because she had said bad things about Palestine.”
It also said that rape had been confirmed after a gynaecological examination of the girl.