PARIS — French authorities have launched a criminal investigation after multiple Jewish landmarks in Paris were vandalized with green paint in the early hours of Saturday, just days before the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.
Among the defaced sites were the Shoah Memorial — France’s primary Holocaust remembrance site — two synagogues and a Jewish restaurant in the Marais district, as well as a third synagogue in the city’s 20th arrondissement. An open can of green paint was reportedly found near one of the locations. Surveillance footage from the Shoah Memorial reportedly captured an individual dressed in black spraying paint on the site overnight.
The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed it had opened an official probe into what it called “damage committed on the grounds of religion.” In a statement, it cited attacks on five Jewish-associated locations across the city, describing the incidents as serious and deliberate.
France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau condemned the acts in a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), expressing his “immense disgust” and reaffirming the government’s support for the Jewish community.
The vandalism comes amid elevated global tensions and increased concerns about antisemitic acts. In anticipation of potential threats during the Jewish holiday, the French interior ministry had already ordered heightened security around synagogues and other Jewish institutions this weekend.
As of Saturday evening, no suspects have been arrested and no organization has claimed responsibility for the coordinated defacement.
Authorities are reviewing surveillance footage and have increased patrols in affected neighborhoods. Jewish leaders have called for swift action and justice, warning that such acts cannot go unanswered.
France is home to the largest Jewish population in Europe and has seen a troubling rise in antisemitic incidents in recent years — a trend that community leaders say must be met with urgent and firm responses.
