PARIS, Feb. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Some 100,000 French people marched in silence on Sunday through Paris to protest against racism and anti-Semitism after a young Jewish was tortured and killed.

    French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy took part in the march, along with many politicians from left and right as well as religious leaders holding a banner reading "France against racism and anti-Semitism".

    Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old French Jew died of injures after being kidnapped and tortured for three weeks by a gang demanding a large ransom.

    His abduction and death triggered anger among French people, especially the 500,000-strong Jewish community, who believed as the French authorities that anti-Semitism would be part of the reasons of the crime.

    The head of the kidnapping gang, Youssef Fofana, 25, was arrested in Cote d'Ivoire and confessed the abduction. But he denied being the killer or that he was motivated by anti-Semitism and allegedly said the gang targeted Halimi because he was presumed as a Jew to be wealthy. Enditem