France protests: Thousands gather for rallies against anti-Semitism

Huge crowds gathered across France to rally against a surge in anti-Semitism across the country.

Alongside members of the public political leaders from all parties, including former Presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, gathered in Paris.

They filled the Place de la Republique waving banners aloft to decry anti-Semitic acts.

Elsewhere people also lined the streets of cities from Lille in the north to Toulouse and Marseille in the south.

This came after vandals daubed swastikas and anti-Jewish slogans on dozens of graves in a Jewish cemetery in the village of Quatzenheim, near the eastern city of Strasbourg, on Tuesday.

President Emmanuel Macron paid respects at one of the 96 desecrated graves.

He said: "Whoever did this is not worthy of the French republic and will be punished... We'll take action, we'll apply the law and we'll punish them."

President Macron later visited the national Holocaust memorial in Paris alongside the heads of the Senate and National Assembly.

France is home to the biggest Jewish community in Europe with a population of around 550,000.

This is a number that has grown by about half since World War Two.

Anti-Semitic attacks remain common and government statistics released last week showed there were more than 500 anti-Semitic attacks in the country last year, a 74 percent increase from 2017.

Among incidents in recent days "yellow vest" protesters were filmed hurling abuse on Saturday at Alain Finkielkraut, a well-known Jewish writer who is the son of a Holocaust survivor.

Artwork on two Paris post boxes showing the image of Simone Veil, a Holocaust survivor and former magistrate, was defaced with swastikas.

As well as this a bagel shop was sprayed with the word "Juden", German for Jews, in yellow letters and a tree in a Paris suburb in memory of Ilan Halimi, a young Jewish man kidnapped, tortured and murdered in 2006, was cut in two.

The series of attacks has alarmed politicians and prompted calls for action.

"I call on all French and European leaders to take a strong stand against anti-Semitism," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message recorded in Hebrew. "It is an epidemic that endangers everyone, not just us."

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters: "It needs to be dealt with now and extremely firmly.

"It's a real question of authority. Violence is spreading and it needs to stop now."