14 Arabs Charged with Wrecking Jewish Owned Shops; Jewish Defense Guard Organized

Fourteen Arabs taken into custody will appear before a special court here this week charged with wrecking 40 Jewish-owned shops in the Belleville quarter of northeast Paris during a riot Monday night and attacking police officers who tried to disperse them. According to eyewitnesses, the trouble was precipitated by Arabs who molested Jews on the streets and were suddenly joined by truckloads of other club-wielding Arabs who smashed windows, assaulted pedestrians and battled police into the early hours of yesterday morning. The attack was obviously organized and premeditated according to several organizations that issued statements denouncing it today. The Union of French Jewish Students charged that it was carefully planned in advance. The Movement Against Racism and anti-Semitism deplored the riots and urged both sides to refrain from further violence. Meanwhile, Jewish youths in the Belleville quarter have organized to defend it. About 80 members of Betar, a militant Zionist group, were patrolling the streets tonight. One of them told the JTA that they would mount guards every night from now on. Belleville, largely inhabited by Jews from North Africa, was the scene of a three-day Moslem-Jewish battle a year ago.