An apparent anti-Semitic attack on Tottenham fans in France coincides with a report showing a 58 per cent increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the country in 2012.
An apparent anti-Semitic attack on Tottenham fans in Lyon, France, coincides with the publication of a report showing a 58 per cent increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the country in 2012.
Three Tottenham Hotspur supporters were taken to hospital yesterday after a group of men wearing balaclavas gave Nazi salutes and smashed the windows of the Smoking Dog Pub where Tottenham fans were gathered.
While none of the travelling fans were Jewish, Tottenham Hotspur football club has long been associated with London’s Jewish community.
The fact that the attackers were seen by witnesses flinging their arms in the air in Nazi salutes lends credence to speculation that the attack was motivated by anti-Semitism.
The attack also coincides with the release of a report showing a 58 per cent rise in anti-Semitic attacks in France in 2012.
There were 614 anti-Semitic acts documented in France last year compared to 389 in 2011.
“2012 has been a year of unprecedented violence against Jews in France,” said the report released on Tuesday by the security unit of France’s Jewish communities (SPCJ).
Incidents where victims were assaulted physically or verbally on the street witnessed an increase of 82 percent, to 315 last year compared to 177 cases in 2011, SPCJ said.
This has added to worries that Europe is seeing a resurgence in anti-Semitism.
Earlier this month Italian police arrested three men suspected of being involved in an incident in Rome last November, when Tottenham fans were allegedly attacked in a pub in Rome.
Witnesses described hearing the assailants chanting “Jews” during the attack.
Last year a Europe-wide survey by the Anti-Defamation League found that:
- In Spain, where Jewish civic groups say Spaniards blame their economic woes on the country’s Jews, 72 percent of the population holds anti-Jewish views, compared with 64 percent in 2009.
- In Hungary, 63 percent of the population holds anti-Semitic views, up from 47 percent in 2009.
- In Poland, 48 percent show anti-Semitic attitudes, about the same as 2009.
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32 Responses to “Attack on Tottenham fans coincides with report showing ‘unprecedented rise’ in anti-Semitism in France”
david
So let’s get this straight. A non-Jewish business was attacked, with non-Jewish people inside, and somehow it’s an act of anti-semitism? This is the kind of thing that makes people roll their eyes and start getting annoyed when they hear “anti-semitism”. Nobody takes it seriously anymore when garbage like this is reported so falsely.
Truthspeaker
Tottenham has traditionally had a large Jewish following and opposition fans have been know to chant anti-semitic chants at Tottenham fans and players
Truthspeaker
I’m not easily convinced but if eye witnesses say that the attackers were doing Nazi salutes when they were attacking the tottenham fans then it sounds like maybe, just maybe the attack was anti-semitic.
P.s. I’m an Arsenal Fan.
FRANCIS GERALD ALLEN
Lyon being the headquarters/home of Klaus Barbie would certainly add credence to the attacks on Tottenham fans
and as the article states there are increasing attacks on Jewish propertie’s, individuals etc.I would like to think that it’s just football hooliganism, all football teams have their ultra/neofascist elements, and unfortunately it’s up to the French police authoritie’s and then the French anti=fascist groups to oppose this rise in anti-semitism.
Roderick Bateman;Why the editor is allowing your racist crap on a socialist blog God only knows. But in the pursuit of free speech,I presume that is the reason for letting you post on here.So here is a little history lesson for you.White countries weren’t forced to open there borders to non-whites, it was due to booming factories and a massive growth due to post war re-construction and demand created by such Keynesian policies that led to such a massive labour shortage in the the rebulding economies of war torn Europe. So therefore the former colonial powers i.e. Britain, France, Holland, Belgium and of course the eventual rebuiding of Germany with Marshall aid(and for those old enough to remember Enoch Powell as Health Minister in Churchill/Edens postwar Tory government as the biggest recruiting seargent for immigrant labour from the Carribean, India, Africa, Ireland and all other parts of the empire; ditto France etc. What isn’t discussed much is a hope of the employers was that these new recruits to the workforce would be a counter to the growing T.U. movement and their demands for better wages and conditions, fortunately these new recruits to the workforce became involved in the unions and the struggles,in the main.
withpower
Oh, it was booming factories and Keynsian Economics.
And now he’s added the “worker’s struggle” to the equation.
No, it was the Jews. Try spinning the Goy Wheel on less informed opponents.