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Jews and Moslems Clash in Belleville Quarter of Paris

June 4, 1968
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Jews and Moslems battled each other with paving stones, bottles and fists in the Belleville quarter of Paris last night and today. Police arrested 14 persons. An undisclosed number were injured and at least 12 stores and cafes in the neighborhood were wrecked. Some were plundered. A Moslem crowd smashed the front door of a synagogue and tried to burn the building, but police prevented them from entering the building. The strife erupted suddenly Sunday night in a cafe where Jews and Moslems were playing cards. It broke out again at noon today. Police said there was no previous record of violence between Jews and Moslems in Paris. They attributed the fighting to the idleness and unrest stemming from the two week old general strike in France. It is believed that most or all of the Jews involved were immigrants from North Africa, some of whom lived in Israel before moving to France, Some 15,000 Tunisian Jews live in Belleville.

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