Chirac veroordeelt golf van racistisme en anti-semitisme in Frankrijk (en)

French President Jacques Chirac yesterday pleaded for an end to an increasing wave of racist attacks in France, which he says are "sullying" the country.

Mr Chirac called for urgent action to end what he described as "[the] despicable and odious acts of hatred soiling our nation".

"Discrimination, anti-semitism, racism - all sorts of racism are spreading insidiously," Mr Chirac said.

Vowing to do "all I can to stop them", he said that those who committed these crimes will be punished "with all the rigour of our laws".

"All these acts reflect the darker side of human nature and are not worthy of France", he concluded.

Mr Chirac's speech - his longest and most powerful for some time on domestic French affairs - was made all the more resonant by his choice of venue.

The President had travelled to Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, a small village in South-West France, where the local population had risked their lives to shelter Jews from the Nazis during the second world war.

And he was accompanied by Simone Veil, a survivor of Auschwitz.

A Gathering Storm

The recent rise in anti-semitic and other racist incidents has shocked France and tarnished its image abroad.

In April, 127 tombstones were desecrated at a Jewish cemetery in Herrlisheim-près-Colmar. And the number of anti-semitic incidents generally has risen this year.

But it is not just anti-semitism on the increase - a Muslim cemetery in Strasbourg came under attack in June and racist slogans have been daubed on mosques.