“Serge”, “Jacob”, stars of David… Last weekend, Jewish traders on boulevard de Rochechouart, in Paris (18th arrondissement), located between boulevard Barbès and square d'Anvers, discovered that their metal curtain had been tagged by strangers on Friday night.
More widely, in the district, six-pointed stars, accompanied by the same Jewish-sounding first name, “Jacob”, have been drawn on the street furniture.
Arousing some concern.
One of the “targeted” traders filed a complaint on Monday, triggering an investigation by the 18th district police station.
Are we trying to point the finger at Jewish merchants, very numerous in this artery which alternates hundreds of meters of ready-to-wear and food shops?
Who are those who handled the spray paint?
And with what intention?
The prelude to a possible attack?
The Union of Jewish Students of France (UEJF), which seized the case, decided to act "after careful consideration", in the evening from Wednesday to Thursday.
After meeting the traders, some of whom are traumatized, the students say, they organized a “tagging”, in turn, in the neighborhood.
"We drew first names reminiscent of different faiths, symbols of all religions and Marianne", details Noémie Madar, president of the UEJF.
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The idea is that people of the Jewish faith no longer feel the target.
Because, she adds, “some fear that these tags are used to identify them, a prelude to a possible attack.
These acts are more and more trivialized.
One erases the other… But these are serious facts.
Moreover, for many reasons, many Jewish traders left the neighborhood.
"
This Thursday, boulevard de Rochechouart, the saleswoman of one of the stores targeted last weekend still could not believe it.
"The boss is not Jewish," she is surprised.
Only the owner of the walls is.
How could the taggers know that?
"
"It's not someone from here"
"Everyone gets along well here," sweeps the owner of a luggage store with the back of his hand.
I'm Jewish, but there are all faiths on the boulevard, and there has never been the slightest problem between us.
It wasn't somebody from here who did that.
"
One of the targeted brands had already incurred the same type of registration fee last year.
The word "Jews" had been written on the storefront.
This time, the bosses decided to file a complaint.
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Isolated act?
Targeted or randomly selected merchants?
The only certainty is that the CCTV images from one of the targeted stores show two men, Friday evening, at 7:30 p.m., writing bombshells "Serge" and "Jacob", tracing a Star of David on the iron curtain, without being in the least worried by passers-by.
An inscription all the more incomprehensible as the first names do not correspond to anyone in the store.
