A 70-year-old Jewish man was viciously assaulted on Wednesday night in the quiet French town of Anduze, near Alès.

According to a report by Entrevue, the victim—wearing a kippah and tzitzis—was feeding stray cats in the street when a drunken man approached him and demanded money. When the elderly man refused, he attacked.

Eyewitnesses say the attacker, a 45-year-old man known to local police for previous theft-related offenses, launched into a brutal assault—punching and kicking the defenseless victim while shouting antisemitic slurs, including “dirty Jew.”

Local authorities arrested the suspect on Thursday morning. He was reportedly still intoxicated at the time of arrest and is currently in custody on charges of “violence and insults based on religious affiliation or non-affiliation.”

The incident has once again raised worries over the safety of visibly Jewish individuals in public spaces in France, a country that has seen an alarming increase in antisemitic attacks in recent years.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)