France cracks down on pro-Palestinian protesters amid security concerns
Paris police used used teargas and water cannons to break up a rally in support of Palestinians in the French capital on Friday amid fears the Israel-Hamas conflict could spill over into France.
Despite the French government’s ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the country, thousands of protesters waved the Palestinian flag and chanted “Palestine will win,” “Israel murderer,” “Macron accomplice” and “we are all Palestinians,” French media reported.
According to French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, more than 100 antisemitic cases have been reported in France since Hamas launched its surprise attack in Israel last Saturday.
The protests follow French President Emmanuel Macron’s televised address in which he urged French citizens to remain united in the wake of the attack on Israel, which has killed 1,300 Israelis and more than 1,500 people in Gaza following Israel’s retaliatory strikes.
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Macron has said 13 French nationals lost their lives in the attack launched by Hamas, with 17 others still missing. He vowed “to do everything to ensure that the hostages, whatever their nationality, are released.”
The French president has warned “those who confuse the Palestinian cause with the justification of terrorism are making a moral, political and strategic mistake.”
With France believed to be home to Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish communities, Macron said 582 religious and cultural facilities in the country were receiving stepped-up police protection as tensions rise.
Hamas had called on Muslims around the world to protest and attack Israelis and Jews in a “day of rage” on Friday.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday vowed “zero tolerance” against antisemitism and called on German law enforcement agencies to hold anyone who does such things accountable “with all the means that our defensible constitutional state offers.”