PARIS (AP) — More than 100,000 people marched in Paris on Sunday to protest rising antisemitism following Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, representatives of several parties on the left and far-right leader Marie Le Pen attended Sunday’s march in the French capital amid tight security. President Emmanuel Macron did not attend, but expressed his support for the protest and called on people to rise up against “the intolerable resurgence of antisemitism.”
However, the leader of the French left-wing Unbowed party, Jean-Luc Melenchon, distanced himself from the march, saying last week on X, previously Twitter, that the march would be a gathering of “friends of unconditional support for the genocide” in Gaza.
Paris authorities deployed 3,000 police troops along a protest route called by leaders of the Senate and lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, amid a worrying rise in anti-Semitic acts in France since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas after Oct. 7 surprise attacks on Israel.
Thousands of people including politicians like Elisabeth Borne and Marie Le Pen marched in the streets.AP
France has the largest Jewish population in Europe, but given its own World War II collaboration with the Nazis, today’s antisemitic actions are opening old scars.
Holding a French flag, Robert Fiel said marching against antisemitism was “more than an obligation.”
“It’s a march against terrorism, against antisemitism, against all (extremist politics) that infiltrates society, to show that the silent majority does exist,” the 67-year-old said.
A protester stated that he was not only marching against antisemitism but also political extremism of all kinds.AP About 40 French citizens were killed in a Hamas attack.AP
Family members of some of the 40 French nationals killed in the initial Hamas attack, and those missing or held hostage, also took part in the march.
Patrick Klugman, a lawyer and member of the “Freethem” committee that seeks to secure the release of people held by Hamas and other groups in Gaza, said the large participation in the march was meaningful and symbolic in reassuring the Jewish community in France.
“I am very proud of my country because of this mobilization,” said Klugman. “I feel less alone than I did last week and day.”
3,000 police officers are reported to be on duty along the protest route.AP
French authorities have registered more than 1,000 actions against Jews across the country in the month since the conflict in the Middle East began.
In a letter addressed to France on Sunday, Macron vowed that the perpetrators would be prosecuted and punished.
“The France our Jews fear is not France,” Macron said in the letter, published in Le Parisien newspaper. He called on the country to remain “united behind its values … and work for peace and security for all in the Middle East.”
Marie Le Pen attended Sunday’s march despite her National Rally party’s antisemitic history.AP
Macron said he would be present “in my heart and spirit,” but not in person. “My role is to build national unity and hold fast to values,” Macron said on Saturday on the sidelines of an Armistice Day commemoration to mark the end of World War I.
France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen attended Sunday’s march amid intense criticism that her once-pariah National Assembly party has failed to shake off its antisemitic legacy despite growing political legitimacy.
After arriving at the rally with the party’s president, Jordan Bardella, Le Pen dismissed critics and said that she and party members were “exactly where we need to be.” He called on other politicians “to take a break from stirring up political controversy” during the march.
France has the largest Jewish population in Europe.AP
As of Saturday, officials had counted 1,247 antisemitic acts since October 7, nearly three times as many as in all of 2022, according to the Interior Ministry.
France has largely banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations, although supporters have marched in several French cities in recent weeks, including thousands demanding a ceasefire in Gaza in protests authorized in Paris last Sunday.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
