several arrests after violence and damage

The pro-Palestinian demonstrations which were held in several cities on Thursday, despite being banned, were punctuated by some clashes. In Paris, 3,000 people – according to the police headquarters – gathered at the start of the evening at Place de la République, chanting “Palestine will win” or “Israel assassin, Macron complicit”equipped with Palestinian flags.

The police ended their gathering around 7:30 p.m., under tear gas and jets of water. A few scattered groups then dispersed into the adjacent streets and anti-Semitic tags were written on facades. “Only Israel and Free Palestine” could we read on the front of a bank, relates a police source to Figaro.

23 arrests in Paris

In total, 23 demonstrators were arrested in the capital, the Paris prosecutor’s office told us. In detail, 13 people were arrested because of their “participation in a gathering after being ordered to disperse”nine were arrested for “participation in a group with the aim of committing violence or damage”. Finally, a final demonstrator was intercepted by the police for having committed “violence against a person holding public authority with a weapon”.

Other banned gatherings took place in the center of Rennes, bringing together around fifty demonstrators. Same in Lille, where ten individuals were arrested for “rebellion” And “refusal to disperse”, according to the prefecture’s report. In Toulouse, despite the ban and cancellation by the organizers of the demonstration in support of Palestine, around a hundred people gathered before being dispersed by mobile police using tear gas.

Preventing “anti-Jewish attitudes”

Ahead of these gatherings, Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez warned against “attitudes, words and gestures, mainly of an anti-Jewish nature, inciting racial hatred and advocating the terrorist attacks perpetrated in recent days in the Middle East.. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, had sent a telegram to the prefects ordering the systematic ban on “pro-Palestinian demonstrations, because they are likely to generate disturbances to public order”.

Since last Saturday’s offensive by Hamas – the Palestinian Islamist movement – on Israel and the responses it entailed, threats against the Jewish community have multiplied. Thursday evening, the manager of a kosher restaurant in Paris was the target of malicious calls: “We’re going to kill you all. God is great. You killed Palestinians, we’re going to come and kill you all in your restaurant.” he was threatened, a police source tells us, specifying that the rounds have been intensified in the neighborhood.

No police custody for participation in a prohibited demonstration

Despite repeated bans, new demonstrations in support of Palestine could take place in the coming days. The prefect of Hérault thus banned two other gatherings, planned for this Friday in Béziers and Saturday in Montpellier. Lawyer Delphine Meillet recalls that “mere participants in an illegal demonstration cannot be criminally sanctioned, unless they commit other acts which would qualify as an offense”. Participation in a prohibited demonstration is punishable by a fine of 135 euros and cannot, as such, give rise to placement in police custody.