(17 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rouen, France – 17 May 2024
1. Star of David stained glass window inside Rouen Synagogue
2. Member of Rouen Synagogue dusting debris off a felt material
3. Tilt down from exterior of synagogue to worshipers
4. Worshipers praying
5. Close of prayer book
6. Rouen Synagogue Rabbi, Chmouel Lubecki, leading the prayers
7. SOUNDBITE (French) Natacha Ben Haim, President of the Jewish Community of Rouen:
"For the symbolism of today we wanted to have Shabbat prayer service, welcoming the Shabbat in our Synagogue."
8. Natacha Ben Haim, President of the Jewish Community of Rouen, speaking to police outside Rouen Synagogue
9. Various of service in courtyard
10. SOUNDBITE (French) Natacha Ben Haim, President of the Jewish Community of Rouen:
"No matter what is going to happen or what did happen we will stay in our Synagogue and we won’t be intimidated."
11. Mid of service
12. SOUNDBITE (French) Natacha Ben Haim, President of the Jewish Community of Rouen:
"I think they are praying that this doesn’t happen anymore. So that finally we can have calm, serenity, peace and that this stops."
13. Close of exterior of Synagogue
14. SOUNDBITE (French) Natacha Ben Haim, President of the Jewish Community of Rouen:
"We already have lots of ideas. We are going to install an alarm. We didn’t have an alarm. We had surveillance cameras but perhaps not enough. So we are going to reinforce our security even more but the maniac came with tools and he succeeded in opening the window. Fortunately there were bars on the window and so he couldn’t enter but he was able to throw in the incendiary object."
15. Worshipers praying
STORYLINE:
Shabbat services were held in the courtyard of a synagogue in the Normandy city of Rouen on Friday evening after a fire charred and blackened the insides of the building.
French police shot and killed a man armed with a knife and a metal bar who was suspected of having started the fire early on Friday.
Rabbi Choumel Lubecki led the prayers welcoming Shabbat in the courtyard since the main prayer room where the congregation usually worships still smelled of smoke.
The exteriors of the holy arc where the Torah is kept during services was damaged and the adjacent walls were charred.
With no electricity in the room, prayers could not take place there.
The French interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, said the incident was “clearly” antisemitic.
“This antisemitic act in Rouen affects all of us, deeply,” he said.
France is “extremely determined to continue protecting all the Jews of France, wherever they are, who must practice their religion without fear."
In the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, antisemitic acts have surged in France, which has the largest Jewish and Muslim populations in Western Europe.
France has also seen pro-Palestinian protests in major cities and students occupying university campuses in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
AP video shot by: Oleg Cetinic
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