Two teenagers fired shots from an air rifle at a synagogue in Paris on Friday night, lightly injuring a Jewish man in the leg, French media reported on Tuesday.

According to the Le Parisien newspaper, the attack was staged against a synagogue in the Sarcelles suburb of Paris from an apartment facing the building.

Police searched the apartment and confiscated a 4.5mm calibre rifle, while the teenagers themselves were arrested on Saturday. The state prosecutor believes that the attack was carried out for antisemitic motives.

The president of the Jewish community of Sarcelles was quoted as saying, however, that he believed the attack was not antisemitic, adding that it was carried out due to “stupidity” and that the teenagers would have shot anyone. But he said he was still concerned about antisemitism in the suburb.

The incident comes as large demonstrations against antisemitism are being organized in Paris and other cities following a string of recent antisemitic attacks.

Last Saturday, “yellow vest” protesters hurled antisemitic abuse at French-Jewish philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, while a tree planted in memory of Ilan Halimi, who was brutally murdered in 2006, was chopped down ahead of a memorial event for him in Paris.

A government report released last week found that antisemitic attacks had spiked by 74% in 2018 over the previous year.

