At the call of several associations and collectives, thousands of people participated, Saturday October 28, in Paris, in calm, in a rally “in support of the Palestinian people”, with cries in particular of “Gaza, Gaza, Paris is with you,” noted a journalist from Agence France-Presse (AFP). However, tensions broke out with the police during the dispersal of the demonstrators.
The crowd gathered despite the ban on this demonstration by the police prefect, Laurent Nuñez, by an order of October 26. The administrative court even validated the prefectural ban on this demonstration at midday on Saturday, citing “the seriousness of the risk of disturbances to public order” and “a context of heightened tensions linked to events in the Gaza Strip with a rise in anti-Semitic acts in France.
On October 18, the Council of State reminded the government that pro-Palestinian demonstrations could not be systematically banned and that it was up to the prefects alone to assess whether there was a local risk of disturbances to public order.
Elected officials from rebellious France and environmentalists
The demonstrators gathered at the beginning of the afternoon on the Place du Châtelet, in the center of the capital. Samia Orosemane, comedian, displayed a sign: “Where has our humanity gone? » “It is not normal that a ceasefire has not been requested, that there are thousands of civilians dying and that no one says anything”, and that “in the country of human rights de l’Homme, we are being prevented from demonstrating,” she told AFP.
Among the demonstrators were also elected officials wearing their tricolor scarves. Among them, several elected environmentalists, such as Sandrine Rousseau, Aurélien Taché, or Yannick Jadot. The deputies of France Insoumise (LFI), Jérôme Legavre and Thomas Portes were also present.
“The emergency is the ceasefire, to stop killing women, children, men,” said the deputy mayor of Corbeil-Essonne, Elsa Touré, while arguing that “the ‘Israeli state has been walking on international law for years.’
An important police force
But the crowd was prevented from moving by a very large police force. Three LFI activists spoke with police officers who warned them that they risked being “fined, at 135 euros” if they stayed. “In the United States there are thousands of demonstrators calling for a ceasefire, in other countries as well, and in France, it is forbidden while what happened yesterday was a war crime or even against humanity, international justice will judge,” protested anonymously to AFP one of them, Raymond, after a night of unprecedented bombings carried out by the Israeli army on the Gaza Strip .
Demonstrators also chanted: “Gaza, Gaza, Paris is with you” and: “It is humanity that is being murdered, children of Gaza, children of Palestine. » Others: “Israel assassin, Macron complicit. » “We are in France, we should have the right to express ourselves, what affects us the most is that children are dying,” commented a 23-year-old demonstrator, Sarah.
According to Israeli authorities, the attack by Hamas on October 7 killed more than 1,400 people in Israel. According to the Hamas health ministry, more than 7,700 Palestinians have been killed since the relentless bombardment began, including more than 3,500 children.
