Security upped after synagogue attack

France is boosting security at Jewish and other religious sites after blanks were fired at a synagogue and police accused a suspected cell of radical Islamists of ties to a grenade attack on a kosher grocery.

President François Hollande sought yesterday to allay tensions between Jews and Muslims aggravated by a recent series of violent incidents in the country.

Hollande singled out hateful extremists for criticism and urged respect for all religions in a country that is officially secular, but which has Western Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim communities.

He said that authorities “in the coming days, in the coming hours” would increase security at religious sites so they won’t be subject to the kind of attack that targeted a synagogue in the Paris suburb of Argenteuil on Saturday night.

A synagogue representative said witnesses heard what sounded like a weapon being fired and that police said blanks had been fired and empty bullet casings found. Local police would not comment on the incident. Services were cancelled at the synagogue on Saturday night because of the incident, the representative said on condition of anonymity because a police investigation is under way.

No one was injured, though the rabbi and about a dozen others were inside the synagogue at the time, according to the Jewish Community Protection Service. The incident came hours after police killed one man and arrested 11 in raids across France targeting a suspected cell accused of links to a grenade attack on a kosher grocery last month.