The government of France on Sunday has vowed to protect the Jewish community following a recent stabbing incident that injured two media workers.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, visiting a synagogue on Sunday, promised that over 7,000 authorities and soldiers were deployed to protect Jewish services this weekend ahead of the evening start of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.
France is the country in Europe housing the largest number of Jewish people.
“I came to assure … members of France’s Jewish community of the protection of the state,” Darmanin was quoted as saying in a report by AP News. “Because we know that Jews are particularly targeted by Islamist attacks and we should obviously protect them.”
Darmanin’s statement came following a stabbing incident in Paris on Friday that injured two workers of television production agency Premieres Lignes.
The suspect, an 18-year-old Pakistani who arrived in France as a lone minor, had been arrested by authorities. He claimed he was irked by a satirical post mocking Prophet Muhammad.
Eight other people were caught, while another two—including the suspect’s younger brother—were under detention.
The teen said he was targeting journalists from satirical publication Charlie Hebdo which moved to a new office in 2015 following a stabbing incident that claimed dozens of lives. It did not identify its new office address due to security reasons.
One individual had been released late on Friday after he was proven to have stopped the assailant. His lawyer said he should be hailed as a hero instead.
The attack on Friday came three weeks into a trial of suspected accomplices in the attack on Charlie Hebdo, a Jewish supermarket which claimed 17 lives, as well as on a policewoman.
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