Arson attack on Jewish centre

Jon Henley reports from Paris:

In the latest anti-semitic attack to shock France, arsonists attacked a Jewish community centre in the 11th arrondissement of Paris in the early hours of yesterday and daubed Nazi symbols on its walls, doors and furniture.

Both the French prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, and President Jacques Chirac expressed outrage at the burning of the centre, which occupies the first floor of a six-storey building in the Rue Popincourt and prepares kosher food for old and needy Jews.
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Among messages scrawled on the walls of the centre, which served as a synagogue from 1913 to the mid-1960s, were: "Without the Jews, the world is happy" and "Jews get out".

The attack was the second anti-semitic incident to make headlines in the French capital in a week. The previous Saturday, vandals drew a swastika and wrote "Death to Jews" on a wall in front of Notre Dame Cathedral.
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The case has been referred to Paris criminal investigators and a formal inquiry has been launched. The city's mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, promised he would not "yield one centimetre to the barbarians".

According to Haaretz, 'An Islamic internet site operating from Paris reported early Monday that a radical Muslim organization was behind the fire...' See also here.

And: read about the Affaire du lycée Montaigne - scroll down for the English text. (Via Imshin.)