Protesters picket Jewish singer

ROUBAIX, France (Reuters) -- A concert by French Jewish singer Enrico Macias was picketed by pro-Palestinian demonstrators protesting against the current bloodshed in the Middle East.

About 150 demonstrators shouted "Stop the massacres" and waved banners reading "The Zionist sings and Israel kills" outside a heavily-guarded hall in the northern town of Roubaix.

Macias, who is Algerian-born, performed in Arabic to about 1,500 people.

Outside about 100 police surrounded the demonstrators, who dispersed without incident.

Macias, a "peace messenger" of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, is a strong supporter of Israel but also backs the creation of a Palestinian state.

"They got the wrong target," he told his audience.

Roubaix, an industrial centre near the Belgian border, has a large population of North African Arab origin.

At least 275 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed since September 28 in violence between Israeli forces and Palestinians protesting against Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Several synagogues and other Jewish buildings in France were attacked in the weeks immediately following the start of the Palestinian uprising, but the attacks have now subsided.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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