CJC 'grateful' to Sûreté. 'It's good to see that things are getting done' says student who was bloodied in attack

Four arrests have been made in connection with a series of anti-Semitic incidents in the Laurentians during the summer.

Three of the four arrested are minors, including one who is expected to be charged with assaulting Mendy Haouzi, a McGill student who was attacked in August while he was on his way to a synagogue in Ste. Agathe.

The Sûreté du Québec has asked a police force in France to take a statement from Haouzi's father, a witness to the assault who now lives in France, and has submitted the findings of their investigation to a prosecutor, said SQ Sgt. Benoît Richard.

Haouzi was slapped and punched after a group of youths hurled racial insults at him, his father and his two half-brothers as they headed to the House of Israel Congregation in Ste. Agathe.

"It's good to see that things are getting done. Now people there will know you can't just do whatever you want. The police will go after them," Haouzi said yesterday.

The incident left Haouzi bloodied and drew attention to a series of other incidents that happened over the summer in Ste. Agathe.

Richard said the three other people, two of them minors, have been arrested and will be summoned to appear in court to be charged with spraypainting cars belonging to members of the Lubavitch community, a branch of Hasidic ultra-orthodoxy.

"We are grateful to Sûreté du Québec investigators whose diligence and concerted efforts appears to have resulted in a successful end to their investigation," Victor Goldbloom, president of the Quebec region of the Canada Jewish Congress, wrote in a statement.

pcherry@thegazette.canwest.com

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