Paris, July 11 (Reuters): French politicians today condemned an apparently anti-Semitic attack on a woman in which a knife-wielding gang on a suburban train cut her hair, ripped her clothes and drew swastikas on her body.

The attack on a 23-year-old who was with her 13-month-old baby involved six young men on Friday morning in front of other passengers on the train just north of Paris, authorities said.

French media said the attackers appeared to have been north African and that the victim was not Jewish but the gang may have believed she was after taking her handbag and finding identity papers with an address in a wealthy area of Paris.

French President Jacques Chirac issued a statement demanding “everything be done to catch the perpetrators of this shameful act, and that they are judged and sentenced with all severity”.

Last week Chirac urged renewed efforts against what he called “the darkest side of human nature,” and said state prosecutors should appeal against any lenient sentences handed down for racist, anti-Semitic or homophobic violence.

Anti-Semitic attacks in France have risen in recent months and officials say most are committed by Muslim youths angered by West Asian violence.

France has Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim minorities and racism has become a significant political issue with Chirac concerned widening divisions in French society could harm the country’s image.