Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered peacefully on Sunday, October 22, at Place de la République in Paris, to demand an end to Israel’s military operations in Gaza, following a collective call.

Surrounded by a significant security system, the gathering was the first Parisian demonstration not to have initially been the subject of a ban by the Paris Police Prefecture. Thursday evening, the gathering, which brought together several thousand people in the same square, was banned by the authorities before the administrative justice system lifted this ban.

“We managed to convince the judges that we defend human rights. The fight will continue legally until the end,” lawyer Dominique Cochin told the crowd on Sunday. “We have opened the door in Paris and in other departments, banning orders are being issued and people can demonstrate,” she added.

In Marseille, a thousand people mobilized on Sunday afternoon for a “rally for peace” at the call of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) of Bouches-du-Rhône, Attac, Marseille Gaza Palestine or the Peace Movement.

Rallies in support of the Palestinians and residents of the Gaza Strip also took place on Saturday in several cities in France. In Lyon, more than a thousand people took part in a demonstration authorized at the last moment.

Ten arrests

According to La France insoumise MP Aurélie Trouvé, the organizers counted 30,000 participants on Sunday in Paris. The police headquarters count shows 15,000 demonstrators. The police made ten arrests, notably for anti-Semitic remarks and tags on the statue of the Republic, the prefecture said.

At the initiative of the gathering, the collective called “For a just and lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis” displayed a banner at the foot of the statue of the Republic, calling on France to “request an immediate ceasefire” and calling for “stop the massacre in Gaza.”

The CGT, the Unitary Trade Union Federation, La France insoumise, the Solidaires trade union, the France Palestine Solidarity Association (AFPS), the Movement against racism and for friendship between peoples, the collective of Muslims of France or even the French Jewish Union for Peace are one of the forty member organizations of the collective.

“Macron gives Israel a license to kill,” denounced the president of the AFPS, Bertrand Heilbronn. Regarding the Hamas attacks of October 7, “the emotion is legitimate,” but “its exploitation is criminal by serving to justify a war of elimination that the State of Israel is waging against the Palestinian people.” , he added.

During the rally, new calls for demonstrations on Tuesday and Saturday were launched for Paris.