PARIS (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of French people, including many political figures, marched in the streets of Paris on Sunday to denounce the upsurge in anti-Semitic acts since the resumption of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
President Emmanuel Macron, whose decision not to participate in this gathering sparked numerous criticisms, notably from political leaders and representatives of the Jewish community, hoped in a “Letter to the French” published in Le Parisien that this initiative would send a “unity” signal.
“A France where our Jewish fellow citizens are afraid is not France,” wrote the head of state, denouncing “the unbearable resurgence of unbridled anti-Semitism.”
According to police figures, 105,000 people marched in Paris.
Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 1,159 anti-Semitic acts have been recorded in France, which corresponds to three times more events of this type recorded than in the whole of 2022, the Minister of Defense said on Wednesday. ‘Interior, Gérald Darmanin, in the Senate.
“We are so happy and reassured that the French responded,” declared the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, who had called with the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, for this “civic march for the Republic and against anti-Semitism, for the France of Human Rights and for the Nation”.
“We believe that the Republic, the values in which we believe are threatened and that we collectively needed a start. We wanted to embody this start, to allow everyone to come together,” she continued upon arrival. of the procession to the Senate, while the crowd was still crowding the route despite the rain.
“It is extremely pleasing to see that today, in France, we are able (…) to come together around what constitutes our foundation, what has made our History and what will, I “I’m sure of it, our future. Today we showed the most beautiful image of France, all together.”
CALL FOR UNITY
Some 3,000 police officers were mobilized to secure the Parisian procession, which set off from the Esplanade des Invalides a little after 3:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. GMT), passing in front of the National Assembly before arriving near the Senate, the end of a 3.5 kilometer route.
Two former heads of state, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and around thirty ministers, as well as numerous political, religious and entertainment figures responded to the call of Yaël Braun-Pivet and Gérard Larcher.
Most had taken their place at the head of the procession behind a large banner proclaiming “For the Republic, against anti-Semitism”, without flags – French or Israeli – or slogans, as the organizers had expressed the wish.
The political leaders nevertheless began the Marseillaise twice, while applause regularly resounded further in the procession.
In his letter, Emmanuel Macron repeated his promise to bring anti-Semitism “to its only place: in front of the courts and behind bars”, in reference to “hundreds of arrests” and “dozens of procedures open courts” in recent weeks.
The head of state above all called on the French for “unity”. “The fight against anti-Semitism must never divide us or ever lead to pitting some of our compatriots against others,” he pleaded. “In our history, anti-Semitism has always been the prelude to other hatreds and racism.”
POLEMICS AND DIVISIONS
The past week has, however, been punctuated by controversies, starting with that, maintained by its own government, on the legitimacy of the presence in the procession of the National Rally (RN, far right), due to the openly anti-Semitic past of its founders, Jean-Marie Le Pen and former collaborators of Nazi Germany and Waffen-SS.
La France insoumise (LFI, far left), of which certain leaders such as Jean-Luc Mélenchon have multiplied the remarks considered provocative since the resumption of the conflict in Gaza, refusing in particular to qualify Hamas as a “terrorist movement”, justified its absence from the march by this presence of the extreme right.
LFI officials, however, took part in a march against anti-Semitism and for peace in Strasbourg, from which the far right had been excluded, as well as in a wreath-laying at the foot of the monument to the Vel’ d roundup. ‘Hiv, in Paris, which was disrupted in the morning by activists claiming to be Jewish who brandished signs “Don’t touch my memory”.
A similar incident occurred upon the arrival of Marine Le Pen on the Esplanade des Invalides, where activists from the Golem collective, which claims to bring together left-wing Jews fighting against anti-Semitism, launched slogans and brandished signs hostile to the leader of the RN.
The other left-wing parties, allied with LFI in Parliament, are however participating in the march, as they had participated in another march on Saturday to call for a ceasefire in Gaza and the protection of Palestinian civilians, which brought together according to the police more than 16,000 people in Paris.
(Reporting Tangi Salaün, with Gus Trompiz and Benjamin Mallet)
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