Paris officials investigate vandalism at Holocaust memorial, 3 synagogues

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Authorities in Paris have launched an investigation after several Jewish sites across the capital were defaced with green paint.

The vandalism, discovered early Saturday morning, targeted the Shoah Memorial, two synagogues and a Jewish restaurant in the city’s historic Marais district, as well as a third synagogue in the 20th arrondissement (district). An open can of paint was reportedly found nearby, while French media said surveillance footage from the Holocaust Memorial showed an individual dressed in black spraying paint overnight.

Photos from the Shoah Memorial show paint coating a wall engraved with the names of the 76,000 Jewish men, women and children deported from France between 1942 and 1944. 

Aurelien Morissard / AP

The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed it had opened a probe for “damage committed on the grounds of religion,” citing attacks on “three synagogues, a restaurant, and the Shoah Memorial” during the night of Friday to Saturday.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau expressed his “immense disgust” regarding the acts of vandalism targeting the Jewish community through a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The acts come ahead of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. France’s interior ministry had already called for heightened security around Jewish sites this weekend due to heightened global tensions.

No suspects have been arrested, and no group has claimed responsibility.

France has the third-largest Jewish population in the world, behind Israel and the United States, according to the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.  

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