A photo posted on social networks showed the young woman holding up the offending sign, on which are written the names of several politicians, businessmen and intellectuals, most of whom are Jewish.
The public prosecutor’s office in the French city of Metz opened an investigation into a “sign with a clearly anti-Semitic message” displayed during a demonstration last Saturday against the Covid-19 health pass.
A woman, who held the antisemitic sign, was arrested on Monday, police said.
A photo posted on social networks showed the young woman holding up the offending sign, on which are written the names of several politicians, businessmen and intellectuals, most of whom are Jewish.
On the sign, the names are framed by the slogan “But who?’ and the word ”Traitors.’’
“This morning, the police arrested the young woman holding the sign,” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin tweeted.
Several politicians expressed their indignation and anti-discrimination associations are considering legal action.
The International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism (Licra) announced on Sunday its intention to file a complaint.
“Anti-Semitism killed yesterday and is still killing today. Anti-Semitism is not an opinion. It is a crime, which must be systematically condemned,” wrote French Minister for Equality, Elisabeth Moreno, on Twitter.
The mayor of Metz, François Grosdidier, said he was “outraged, scandalized, but unfortunately not surprised”, denouncing a “mixture (of) all refusals in a convergence of extremes and in a populist and anti-Semitic magma”.
The Israeli embassy in France said it was “appalled by such an expression of the most abject antisemitic hatred”.
Since Monday, people in France need to show a health pass to enjoy usually routine activities such as sipping a coffee in a cafe or travelling on an intercity train, in a plan championed by President Emmanuel Macron to reduce Covid-19 infections and encourage vaccination.
The introduction of the pass has led to four consecutive weekends of street protests against the measure that saw almost a quarter of a million rally nationwide on Saturday.