Hundreds protest in Paris against antisemitism after rape of 12-year-old Jewish girl

PARIS — Several hundred people protest against antisemitism and “rape culture” in Paris after the gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl at the weekend sparked nationwide outrage.

Various anti-racist, rights and feminist groups had called for the demonstration following Saturday’s gang rape.

Dominique Sopo, president of anti-racist group SOS Racisme, says it was “an antisemitic crime that chills our blood.”

Anne-Cecile Mailfert, the president of the Women’s Foundation, says the incident reflected a rise in antisemitism since Hamas’s October 7 attack that started the Gaza war.

But it also highlighted “a rape culture to which young people are more likely to subscribe,” having been “bottle-fed pornography,” she adds.

Ner Sfez, a 24-year-old Jewish woman, says she came to protest a crime “at the intersection of sexism and antisemitism.”

Hundreds had already protested yesterday in Paris and Lyon in central-eastern France after the incident was reported in the news.