A fire destroyed a Jewish community center in eastern Paris overnight, authorities said Sunday, and arson was suspected. The fire destroyed the Jewish center but no one was hurt, firefighters said. They were called to the scene at about 3:30 a.m. local time and had extinguished the flames by early morning. Authorities immediately suspected the fire was deliberately set, as anti-Semitic graffiti was found scrawled at the site. The case has been referred to Paris criminal investigators, the Paris Police Department said. Mayor Bertrand Delanoe and Paris Police Chief Jean-Paul Proust both visited the site. French President Jacques Chirac condemned the center's destruction and said the government was "determined to find the perpetrators of this unacceptable act so that they can be tried and convicted with the greatest severity" that the law allows.
