Several thousand people gathered in support of the Palestinians on Saturday May 15 across France, despite the ban by the authorities for certain cities, such as in Paris where sometimes tense face-to-face meetings pitted protesters and law enforcement officials. .
About 22,000 people demonstrated in 60 rallies on Saturday in France. They were between 2,500 and 3,500 in Paris, despite the ban issued by the Paris Police Prefecture, according to figures from the Ministry of the Interior. And 18,500 in other provincial towns.
In total, 51 people were arrested, including 44 in Paris, where, according to provisional figures from the prosecution, 15 people were in police custody at the beginning of the evening, in particular for “Participation in a group formed with a view to violence”, “Participation in a gathering after summons” and “Violence against the police”. There were two “Slightly injured” among the police: an agent of the BAC, in Nice, and a mobile gendarme, in Paris.
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In Paris, the demonstrators dispersed
The authorities’ ban did not stop them. In the capital, the last demonstrators were dispersed at Porte de Clignancourt, in the 18e arrondissement, by the police shortly after 7 p.m. In addition to the 44 arrests, 367 people were fined, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
Some 4,200 police officers and gendarmes mobilized, according to the Prefecture of Police, applied the instructions of “Systematic and immediate dispersion” as soon as demonstrators tried to regroup.
Until then, a massive police deployment in the district of Barbès (18e arrondissement) prevented the demonstrators who had made an appointment to go to Bastille from deploying a procession. For several hours, face-to-face, sometimes tense, opposed demonstrators and police, according to our journalist present on the spot.
It is 3:15 p.m., the water cannon kicks in. Some projectiles go in his direction. The slogans are my… https://t.co/UeplwAmxD8
Police charges, repeated use of water and tear gas cannons, throwing of various projectiles by demonstrators, dustbin fires … “Cat and mouse game” between the two parts, on wide boulevards or narrower streets, punctuated the afternoon.
Around 4 p.m., around the La Chapelle metro station, a large procession faced the police, before summons, tear gas bombs, then charge of CRS. In the action, a 22-year-old demonstrator was hit in the back by a de-encircling grenade, according to witnesses interviewed by our journalist. Supported, she was transported to hospital by the firefighters.
At the Chapelle metro level, a large procession tumbles down. The face to face lasts a few seconds, until the summons… https://t.co/Gy9UQn4cLO
Around 5 p.m., rue Championnet, still in the 18e district, a protester was injured in the eye and rescued by a team of “street medics”, according to live images from online media Loopsider. At around 6:30 p.m., a gendarme was lying motionless on the ground, visibly injured, according to live footage from Loopsider, also showing trash fires.
In the evening, the police headquarters confirmed that a gendarme had been injured:
#Prohibited demonstration | A gendarme was injured on Boulevard Ornano as part of his mission. @prefpolice manif… https://t.co/LqUtqIZ7w8
“Free Palestine”, “Israel assassin”, “Israel break up, Palestine is not yours”, shouted earlier, demonstrators in the small streets of the Goutte-d’Or district (18e arrondissement). “Palestine will live. Palestine will win “, could we still hear. Here and there a few Palestinian flags were waved or used as cloaks.
#Prohibited demonstration | A gendarme was injured on Boulevard Ornano as part of his mission. @prefpolice manif… https://t.co/LqUtqIZ7w8
In the early evening, the police carried out identity checks, according to our journalist present on Boulevard Magenta, near Place de la République.
It is past 7 o’clock. The identity of the demonstrators is noted. The @prefpolice recalled that participating in a man … https://t.co/HpPfMygRBi
It is eight o’clock. At the exit of the trap, all the demonstrators are not checked. #palestine #barbes https://t.co/a9xs3pQ7Cr
The organizers, including the Association of Palestinians in Ile-de-France, as well as about thirty other organizations, such as Attac, the Paris-Banlieue Antifascist Action, the New Anticapitalist Party had maintained their call to demonstrate, in despite the ban requested by the authorities and confirmed Friday evening by the administrative court.
This ban was taken on Thursday evening by the Paris police prefect, Didier Lallement, at the request of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, for “Risk of disturbances”. It was put forward the precedent of 2014, when a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Paris had degenerated into urban violence.
The government spokesperson called “Pragmatic” the decision to ban the Parisian demonstration. “We do not want there to be scenes of violence, we do not want to import a conflict on French soil, we do not want a hate crisis in the streets of the French Republic”, said Gabriel Attal, visiting Marseille.
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Elsewhere in France, peaceful gatherings
These protests were originally planned to commemorate the Nakba, the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians upon the creation of Israel in 1948, before the surge in violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip in recent days came to shape the scene. prospect of important gatherings. Gérald Darmanin asked the prefects to closely follow the rallies in support of the Palestinian people planned in other cities and to ensure the protection of places frequented by the Jewish community.
Other demonstrations were banned, such as in Nice and Grenoble, or in Aubervilliers and Montreuil, in Seine-Saint-Denis. In Nice, some 150 people gathered in peace despite the ban. The same in Grenoble, where around 200 people nevertheless demonstrated.
On the other hand, demonstrations or gatherings have been authorized in many cities. In Montpellier, around 200 people, according to the Hérault prefecture, gathered in peace. In Strasbourg, more than 4,000 people, according to the police and the organizers, demonstrated without incident. In Marseille – where the Palestine 13 association, member of the Palestine en resistances collective, proposes the twinning of Gaza with Marseille – they were around 1,500.
Liliane Nasser, from the Palestine 13 association, member of the Palestine en resistances collective: “Possibly we… https://t.co/VkvPSpIJUl
Some 800 people according to the organizers, 400 according to the police, gathered in Toulouse. In Lille, they were 1,500 according to the organizers, 600 to 700 according to the prefecture. In Lyon, the gathering gathered 1,000 people according to the prefecture. In Bordeaux, they were 600; in Saint-Etienne and Nantes, 500; in Annecy, 300; in Rennes and Niort, 200; in Poitiers, more than a hundred, according to the offices of Agence France-Presse in the region.
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Support demonstrations abroad
Abroad, thousands of demonstrators gathered in support of the Palestinians. In London, several thousand people have taken to the streets, calling on the British government to intervene to put an end to the Israeli military operation. “It is essential that the British government take immediate action”, said the organizers, denouncing the strikes that killed civilians in Gaza as “War crimes”.
In Madrid, around 2,500 people also marched in peace in the center of the capital, according to the national police. Other demonstrations also brought together several thousand people in Berlin, in particular, and in several Tunisian cities.
These events take place in a tense international context, as 139 Palestinians have died in Gaza and 11 in the occupied West Bank since the resumption of this new round of Israeli violence and bombardment. In Israel, where the Iron Dome missile shield intercepted about 90% of rockets fired from Gaza, 9 people died, including a child.
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