Pro-Palestine supporters defy ban in Paris to demonstrate

PARIS

Police in Paris used tear gas, water cannons and batons to disperse several hundred protesters who gathered in defiance of the ban to express solidarity with Palestine in demonstrations on Saturday.

Authorities prevented protesters from gathering in the southern city of Nice, citing risks of disturbances to public order. Elsewhere across the country, the demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine took place in calm.

Some 22,000 protesters gathered in France, including up to 3,000 in Paris.

Fifty-one people were arrested nationwide, including 43 in Paris and at least one gendarmerie was injured in clashes, interior minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Twitter.

The reason for the arrests appears to be participation in the pro-Palestine demonstrations.

The interior ministry prohibited rallies in Paris to avoid reliving of violent scenes that occurred during the 2014 anti-Israel protests resulting in rioting, looting and clashes between Palestinians and Jewish groups.

Local and national authorities in Paris are of the opinion that the current situation is very tense and permitting pro-Palestine protests could amount to escalation.

Two organizers -- Association of Palestinians Ile de France and CAPJPO- EuroPalestine -- were denied permission by the police and the administrative courts to organize rallies in Paris.

Right-wing politicians lauded the decision to ban the demonstrations.

“The Palestinian cause is a pretext which for many conceals the desire for riots, Islamist and anti-Semitist motivations, the rejection of France and its institutions,” Jordan Bardella, member of the European Parliament and vice president of the far-right National Rally said on Twitter.

Eric Ciotti of the Republican party, posted a video on Twitter of protesters in Paris chanting “Allah Akbar” during the demonstrations. “The Islamists are taking over the streets, we cannot let this happen without reacting. We must fight so that France remains France.”

In a press conference ahead of the demonstrations on Saturday, Association of Palestinians Ile de France and over 30 other organizers affirmed they will gather “because we refuse to silence our solidarity with the Palestinians, and that we will not be prevented from demonstrating.”

Anticipating trouble, the police mobilized a force of 4,200 policemen and gendarmes for vigilance on the route where the protests were planned, ordered shops and commercial establishments in the Barbes-Rochechouart sector -- the meeting site of the protests-- to close down from noon, and imposed a penalty of 135 euro ($163) for participation in the protests.

Despite the restrictions, protestors gathered in large numbers and led peaceful processions.

“Demonstrators of all origins, marched for nearly an hour in the streets and boulevards of the IXth and XVIIIth arrondissements to repeated cries of 'Israel murderer! Macron accomplice 'and' Palestine will live! Palestine will win,” a statement from EuroPalestine said.

The situation became tense in the Barbes-Rochechouart neighborhood, where a large force of police in riot-gear tried to prevent protesters from moving ahead and used water cannons, tear gas and batons to disperse them.

In Nice, Mayor Christian Estrosi asked authorities to take action against protesters who defy the ban on demonstrations.

“No one can consider that these demonstrations are pro-Palestinian, they are pro-Hamas and therefore accomplices of a terrorist movement,” he said on Twitter. The prefect of Alpes-Maritime issued an order in the morning banning the demonstration due to the “risks of disturbances to public order.”

Demonstrations in Strasbourg Marseille, Lille, Lyon and other parts of the country went off smoothly.

Thousands of protesters gathered in city centers and marched in processions carrying Palestine flags and denouncing Israel’s atrocities.

They carried placards with messages of “Liberte Palestine”, “Israel Apartheid Boycott”, “Free Gaza.”