Volume 4 No 1 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

2012] ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS, JANUARY–JUNE 2012 23
JUNE
Warsaw, June 1: With the European Football Championships just around the corner,
the public debate on antisemitism and racism in general is gaining momentum
in Poland, out of a fear about disruptions by extremists during the games. Security
authorities across the country have been put on alert ahead of the UEFA Euro 2012,
which is set to begin in Poland and Ukraine on June 8. In Warsaw alone, 10,000
police will be deployed to ensure appropriate audience conduct among the hundreds
of thousands of soccer fans arriving from everywhere. In addition, the Polish
press has given much focus over the past few days to condemning any form of
hostility to minorities, including Jews. Newsweek even devoted its entire last issue
to the matter: Jesus and Mary appear on the front cover, with Stars of David on
their clothes, accompanied by the headline “Jesus, Maria, Jews! How contemporary
Poland handles the shame of anti-Semitism.”
Villeurbanne, France
Villeurbanne, France, June 3: The Interior Ministry says an attack by 10 assailants
on three people in southeast France was antisemitic and has called for the assailants
to be brought to justice. The office of interior minister Manuel Valls said that
police were mobilized to arrest those behind the attack a night earlier in Villeurbanne,
near the city of Lyon. The ministry said the assailants wielded a hammer
and an iron bar. One victim sustained an open wound to the head, and another
suffered a neck injury; two of the victims were hospitalized. Both men wore Jewish
skullcaps.
Budapest, June 8: About 120 Hungarians donned paper yellow stars with the word
“Jude” (“Jew” in German) written on them and lined up on the bank of the Danube
in downtown Budapest to protest recent antisemitic and racist incidents in Hungary.
Local media said the demonstration was a Flashmob organized on Facebook. The
protesters staged the demonstration outside the building hosting the offices of
members of Parliament. The state news agency MTI said several demonstrators
told its correspondent that even though the Hungarian government had stated that it
intends to protect Jewish Hungarians, concrete actions, rather than words, were
needed. One example, they were quoted as saying, would be for the government to
back down on including openly antisemitic authors in the national school
curriculum.