FILE - In this March 19, 2012 file photo, a student, second from left, is flanked by an unidentified woman and police officers as they leave a Jewish school after a gunman opened fire in Toulouse, southwestern France. French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has attended a ceremony Tuesday, March 19, 2019 in Toulouse to mark the 2012 attack on a Jewish school that killed four people amid a recent rise in anti-Semitic acts in France. (AP Photo/Manu Blondeau, File)
PARIS – Amid a recent rise in anti-Semitic acts in France, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has attended a ceremony in Toulouse to mark the 2012 attack on a Jewish school that killed four people.
Islamic extremist Mohamed Merah opened fire on the school, slaying a rabbi, his two young sons and a schoolgirl, before being shot by police days later.
It was France's deadliest school shooting and the bloodiest attack on Jewish targets in decades.
"You died a victim of poison, anti-Semitism... that invades the mind, whispers hatred, attacks and kills," Castaner said after lighting candles at a memorial stone.
The total of reported anti-Semitic acts in France rose to 541 in 2018 from 311 in 2017 — a 74 percent surge — Castaner said last month.
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