2014 Sarcelles riots

The Operation Protective Edge created a lot of emotions in France, in particular within the French population of Arab descent. This social composition of the pro-Palestinian is both put forward by radical-left and post-colonial groups[4] and by right-wing medias,[5] and most of the events occurred in low-income and high-immigration neighbourhoods. However, after having given an unusually direct support to Israël,[6] the French government took a hard stance and forbid almost every pro-Palestinian demonstration. The interdictions begun around 14 July, mostly presented as technical and due to the overlap with the festivities of the national holiday,[7] but not everywhere.[8] Then the justifications put forward for later interdictions quickly became[9] the clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel activists, which begun as soon as 13 July.[10][11] This led to many illegal demonstrations during this month, in a context of tensions. In particular those of Barbès[12][13] and Sarcelles.[14] Those demonstrations have often been described as anti-semitic, and many comments pointed out the presence of Islamic or ethnic ("communautaristes") orientations[15][16] inside those demonstrations, although they have mostly been organised by the radical left and the far-left (in particular the NPA[17]). Some incorrect news was broadcast and corrected afterwards,[18] while we have oral reports of anti-semitic sentences which are hard to check (such as the rumour of a "Mort aux Juifs !", "Death to the Jews!") but a few pictures from the Dieudonné sphere can be found.[19] In parallel, the pro-Israel counter-demonstration in Sarcelles was forbidden as well, since groups such as Jewish Defense League have already participated in several violent confrontations with pro-Palestinian demonstrators in the previous days.[20]

France has the third largest community of Jews after Israel and the U.S. and anti-Semitism in France has increased significantly in recent years with one monitoring group claiming that it has increased 700% since the 1990s.[21] Since the beginning of the 21st century, antisemitism in France has found new sources of recruitment from certain leftist groups and in the identification of a significant proportion of the Muslim immigrant population with the Palestinian cause on the one hand and with radical Islamism on the other.[22][23][24] By early 2014 the number of French Jews immigrating to Israel had overtaken the number of American Jews and at the same time 70% of French Jews were concerned about insults or harassment and 60% about physical aggression because of their Jewishness, both figures being much higher than the European average.[25]

A kosher grocery store was set ablaze, for which the perpetrator was convicted of arson.[26]

Prime Minister of France Manuel Valls condemned the attack as antisemitic. He said of the attack, "What's happened in Sarcelles is intolerable: attacking a synagogue or a kosher grocery, is quite simply anti-Semitism, racism."[27]

Minister of the Interior Bernard Cazeneuve said that the violence prompted the ban, not that the ban prompted the violence.[27]

Three men, aged 21 and 28, were jailed for between six and ten months for their part in the riot. A fourth man received a suspended sentence, and a minor received a fine. Three other men received suspended sentences for their part in a riot in Paris on the same day. None of the convictions in Sarcelles were for 'anti-Semitism'. Instead they were for minor public order offences. The term 'riot' was never used by police or prosecutors.[28]