This weekend, we reported that pro-Palestinian demonstrators had forced Jewish worshippers inside a synagogue for more than an hour as they assaulted the building. The Associated Press had reported that the pro-Palestinian demonstrators "tried to force their way into" the synagogue. Nine demonstrators ended up detained, with six police and two Jewish residents injured, LeParisien said.
Now, new footage has emerged that French magazine le Nouvel Observateur says shows the pro-Palestinian demonstrators were themselves attacked.
It shows what the magazine says are members of the Jewish Defense League, a pro-Zionist group, hurling chairs and other objects at the pro-Palestinian demonstrators near the synagogue, while chanting things like "Palestine, go **** yourself!" The magazine quotes the head of Paris' General Union of Palestinian students as saying there'd been "provocations" by "extremists" from the JDL.
The video is quite violent.
It starts with the pro-Palestinians fleeing. The JDL members rush coalesces at just under the minute-mark. They then begin retreating as they spot a counter-surge. At about the 3:25 mark, we can see someone getting severely beaten before security services intervene.
The Nouvel Observateur says this is a more complete video than the one below, which BI also shared, that showed the pro-Palestinian demonstrators on the offensive:
Today, President Francois Hollande voiced concern about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict getting "imported" into France, home to both Western Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim populations, the Daily Mail says. Those fears do not seem misplaced.