The leader of a gang in Lyon, France that allegedly called a Jewish man wearing a kippah a “dirty Jew” before violently assaulting him at the end of Rosh Hashanah has been apprehended by police.
According to French news outlet Actu17, the assault took place at approximately 8pm on Wednesday evening as Rosh Hashanah was coming to a close.
The Jewish man, whose identity has not been revealed, left his house to buy something to eat and was walking by the Place Gabriel-Péri in the Guillotière area of Lyon when he was accosted by a gang of five attackers.
The gang leader, who French media is reporting is a minor, called the victim a “dirty Jew.”
After the victim spoke up to defend himself against the anti-Semitic slur, he was allegedly punched and kicked by the five gang members.
A unit of the French security police (CRS) happened to be operating nearby and witnessed the attack. The police quickly showed up and arrested one of the assailants, who is reportedly 17 years old but did not have any identification.
He was taken into custody. The other four assailants escaped.
The victim was moderately injured. He filed a report with police who have opened an investigation.
On Friday, the National Office for Vigilance Against Antisemitism (BNVCA) released a statement announcing that it was joining the victim’s case as a civil party.
“The BNVCA denounces and strongly condemns the anti-Semitic aggression committed in Lyon on Wednesday evening, September 9, at around 8 pm against a man of Jewish faith identified because he was wearing a kippa on his head,” BNVCA said.
They also called for the gang’s leader to serve a “severe exemplary and dissuasive sentence” for the attack, even if he is a minor.