Anti-semitic graffiti daubed on bagel shop

ANTI-SEMITIC graffiti written in German on the window of a Paris bagel shop has provoked outrage.

Christophe Castaner, the interior minister, warned “the most tragic lessons of history” were being forgotten as he posted a photograph of the vandalism on Twitter.

“Juden”, German for Jews, was found scrawled in yellow paint on a Bagelstein café in the ultra-chic Île Saintlouis neighbourhood on Saturday morning.

Mr Castaner wrote on Twitter: “An anti-semitic tag in the heart of Paris … as if the most tragic lessons of history no longer illuminate [our] consciences.”

The graffiti was discovered as “yellow vest” anti-government protesters were gathering in Paris.

However, Gilles Abecassis, one of the café’s owners, stressed that there was no evidence of “yellow vest” involvement. “They wrote it in yellow, but that may be a reference to the [yellow] star of David [which the Nazis forced Jews to wear],” he said.

Ariel Weil, the local mayor, mocked the perpetrators, who he said were among a handful of people who were “nostalgic for the [Third] Reich”.

The French League Against Racism and anti-semitism posted a photograph of the graffiti online alongside one of a Berlin shop covered in similar graffiti in 1938.