President Emmanuel Macron urged the French people to maintain their unity and refrain from allowing the Israel-Hamas conflict to impact their domestic lives. French police dispersed a prohibited gathering in favor of the Palestinian people on Thursday in Paris, using tear gas and water cannons.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have previously been outlawed by Macron’s interior minister because they were “likely to generate disturbances to public order.” The largest Muslim and Jewish populations in Europe are found in France. In the past, the Middle East conflict has often increased internal tensions. In a somber TV address, Macron declared, “This event is an earthquake for Israel, the Middle East, and beyond.” He went on to say, “We shouldn’t engage in domestic ideological experiments at home by copying or projecting them. We must refrain from introducing domestic rifts into international conflicts through delusions or strategic calculations.”
“The shield of unity will protect us from hatred and excesses.” According to Macron, there is no excuse for crimes, and the government has taken steps to increase police security at Jewish sites, such as synagogues and schools. “‘Yes, but’ doesn’t exist. A moral, political, and tactical blunder is made by those who equate the Palestinian cause with the defense of terrorism.” Before his speech, the far-left France Unbowed party came under fire for its refusal to label the Hamas attack as a terrorist attack, leading to conflict with its Socialist and Green opposition allies. Several hundred pro-Palestinian protesters assembled in several groups in central Paris despite the ban, which police tried to prevent from combining.
The protesters chanted, “Israel murderer” and “Macron accomplice.” Macron earlier denounced the deadly assault carried out by the extremist Hamas group in Palestine and expressed support for Israel. “We reside in a civil law nation where we are free to express ourselves and participate in public protests. It is unfair to forbid for one side and to authorize for the other,” said Charlotte Vautier, a 29-year-old worker at a non-profit who attended the event. Hamas requested demonstrations in favor of Palestinians on Friday throughout the Muslim world earlier this week.
Gerald Darmanin, the interior minister, ordered prefects to ban all pro-Palestinian demonstrations nationwide on Thursday due to previous cancellations of two pro-Palestinian protests in Paris over concerns of potential violence. Since the cross-border attack by Hamas from Gaza on Saturday, French police have detained more than 20 persons in connection with dozens of antisemitic incidents, including bullying of Jewish students at school, the government reported on Wednesday.
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