Alleged attacker of Jewish French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut arrested

Paris police arrested a man for shouting antisemitic epithets at French philosopher and writer Alain Finkielkraut.

The incident on Saturday was captured on camera, with Yellow Vest protesters yelling “Dirty Jew,” “you’re a hater, you’re going to die, you’re going to hell,” “Dirty Zionist,” “France is ours” and “return to Tel Aviv.” Police intervened to protect Finkielkraut.

The man was taken into custody on Tuesday night, French police said Wednesday. Police said he is a salesman from the eastern Alsace region, France 24 reported. He is under investigation for “public insult based on origin, ethnicity, nationality, race or religion.”

Finkielkraut, 69, has expressed support in the past for the social movement. His philosophical writing mostly discusses identity-based violence, including antisemitism.

The Yellow Vests began in the fall as a series of protests against a hike on fuel prices but has been mired since in countless instances of violence against police and a substantial amount of antisemitic hate speech.

On Tuesday, France held rallies across the country against antisemitism there. Hours earlier, nearly 100 gravestones in a Jewish cemetery in the eastern Alsace region were discovered vandalised with swastikas.