Thousands of people have held a silent march in Paris after the murder of an 85-year-old woman in what officials believe was an anti-Semitic crime.

Mireille Knoll was stabbed several times and then burnt in her apartment in the French capital on Friday.

As a child in 1942, she evaded the notorious Vel d’Hiv round up of some 13,000 Jews in Paris, who were then deported to Nazi death camps.

Two men have been held and placed under formal investigation over her murder.

A police source told French media that one of those detained had previously been convicted of molesting a 12-year-old girl who had been staying at Mireille Knoll’s flat.

She had also complained to police that a neighbour had threatened to set fire to her home, according to reports.

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On Wednesday, leaders of several French political parties and senior government members took part in the protest march.

President Emmanuel Macron attended Ms Knoll’s funeral earlier in the day.

The crowd at Tuesday evening’s protest booed two former presidential candidates on the far right and far left who attended despite the wishes of the organisers.

The leader of the National Front, Marine Le Pen – whose father and predecessor is a convicted Holocaust denier – said her party had been fighting anti-Semitism “for years”. Far-left politician Jean-Luc Melenchon was jostled and had to leave.

France’s Jewish community has voiced increasing concern over a rise in violent anti-Semitic acts in the country.

Last month, a judge confirmed that the murder last year of Sarah Halimi, a 65-year-old Orthodox Jewish woman who was beaten and thrown out of her window, was driven by anti-Semitism.