(JTA) — A French judge has dropped hate crime charges against Arab teenagers who assaulted a Jewish teenager outside a synagogue near Paris, a watchdog group said. The National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism, or BNVCA, protested in a statement on Tuesday, March 6 the omission from the indictment of the suspects in the Feb. 28 assault in Montmagny. On March 7,

In the assault, the attackers, aged 14 and 15, called the Jewish boy, his sister and brother “dirty Jews” at the park where they were playing, Le Parisien reported, based on police sources. According to BNVCA, all four suspects are of Arab descent. The boy said the assailants beat him with a stick and took away his kippah, which he was wearing when they approached him.

BNVCA said it was “dismayed” by the judge’s decision, which the group said runs “totally contrary” to the law. A similar exchange occurred after French prosecutors last year dropped hate crime charges in the case of four men suspected of rape and robbery at a suburban Paris home they acknowledged was targeted because it belonged to Jews. Following protests, the aggravated element also was added to their indictment.