The French Government will promulgate its new anti-Jewishlaw in the Official Journal tomorrow, the French radio announced tonight, according to German dispatches.
The law has been under consideration by the Cabinet for several weeks. It was originally drafted by ex-Minister of Interior Adrien Marquet and was introduced by the present Minister Marcel Peyrouton. This will be the first legislation in France’s recent history directed specifically against the Jews.
Tonight’s radio announcement did not reveal the nature of the legislation, but said that it was aimed to remove “the devastating influences of Jewry upon the French people and the French State,” The announcer added that the law would not affect “those Jews who have made themselves useful to the French fatherland.”
Meanwhile, other German dispatches from Vichy reported “new and serious anti-Jewish rioting” in Algiers. The reports said that eight Jews were injured, “but so far nothing is known about the number dead.”
“Although demonstrations are forbidden, large crowds appeared in the streets attacking Jewish shops,” it was stated. “Since in the main streets of the new quarter 80 per cent of all shops are in Jewish hands, and in some older quarters of the town almost 100 per cent, the demonstrators had a big choice.”
The Nazi dispatches said “the riots were on a much larger scale than the anti-Jewish demonstrations in 1898, when many Jewish shops were destroyed and their contents burned.”
The German wireless also reported a renewal of anti-Semitic demonstrations in the unoccupied French city of Nice.
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