Some 100 members of a self-styled “Jewish Defense Organization” attacked a symposium organized by France’s “New Right.” More than 20 of the 1000 delegates to the “Research and Study Group for a New European Civilization” were injured, four of them seriously according to police. Eleven of the Jewish activists were also injured in the violent clash which took place last Sunday but none of them was reported to have sought first aid at any of the city hospitals.
The New Right is a loose movement of right wing intellectuals and senior government aides which advocates a return to “Aryan sources and purity” and promotes an elitist view of the world. Paradoxically, most New Right spokesmen profess pro-Israel views.
The 1000 delegates had begun their symposium Sunday night in the Congress Center near the Etoile when a group of some 100 Jewish activists entered the building Most of them wore motorcycle helmets and carried improvised shields and steel bars. A violent fight ensued as the right wing delegates armed themselves with chairs, tables and fire hoses. A small group of Jewish activists. who had previously infiltrated the meeting hall joined in the fray.
Police arrived after the fighting ended and the Jewish activists had left the site. There were no arrests. The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism announced yesterday that it had lodged a formal complaint with the State Attorney charging that the right wingers had assaulted the Jewish activists. Philosopher Alain de Benoist, leader of the New Right, lodged a counter-complaint with police, charging the activists with “practicing fascist and neo-Nazi tactics.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
