'A lot of pain' - Europe's Jews fear rising antisemitism after Hamas attack

A Jewish student in France had his clothes ripped as he came out of the school toilets

- Angelique Chrisafis, Kate Connolly and Ashifa Kassam

• 320 The number of physical acts of antisemitism recorded by French police in the first 10 days of the war

In the usually bustling "Little Jerusalem" area of Sarcelles, north of Paris, the popular falafel and grill restaurant was eerily quiet. "People are not going out," said Jérémy, its 33-year-old owner.

Many people in one of the largest Jewish communities on the Paris outskirts thought it wiser to stay at home, fearing the growing number of antisemitic incidents in France and across Europe since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October and the ensuing bombardment of Gaza.

In France, home to Europe's largest Jewish community, police recorded more than 320 physical acts of antisemitism and made more than 180 arrests in the first 10 days of the war. Acts under investigation include people gathering in front of synagogues shouting threats, verbal abuse, threatening letters and graffiti such as the words "killing Jews is a duty" sprayed outside a stadium in Carcassonne in the south-west.

Then there are the education minister's reports of a swastika chalked on a school blackboard and a Jewish student whose clothes were ripped and antisemitic comments made to him as he came out of the school toilets.