Hate crimes against France's Jewish community, Europe's biggest, rose by 69% in 2018 after two years of falls. The statistics have moved the French prime minister to set up special measures to tackle the problem.
ADVERTISEMENTAnti-semitic attacks rose in France during 2018, according to a new report. It comes after they fell for two years following a record high in 2015.
Hate crimes against Jewish people or their institutions rose by 69% in the first nine months of this year, new government statistics revealed.
It prompted Prime Minister Edouard Philippe to announce a special network would be formed of investigators and magistrates to clamp down on extremists, and a national team would be on permanent standby ready to intervene in schools.
France has Europe's biggest Jewish population, which has been targeted by Islamic militants in recent years.
The statistics were unusually revealed early by the prime minister. They are normally published at the end of the year by the Interior Ministry.
[This story was updated on 12/11/2018 to remove a Tweet which was not relevant to the subject.]