A Palestinian flag displayed during the rally at Place de la République in Paris on May 22, 2021. – ISA HARSIN / SIPA
Two days after a ceasefire ended eleven days of deadly clashes between Israel and Hamas, protesters in France renewed their support for the Palestinians. Several thousand people gathered for this on Saturday in Paris and in the regions. Announced as a parade, the mobilization was limited in the capital to a rally at Place de la République by the Paris police headquarters.
“Just because there is a ceasefire doesn’t mean the issue is resolved. This fight concerns all people attached to the values of justice, dignity and rights ”, explained Bertrand Heilbronn, president of the France Palestine Solidarity Association (AFPS) at the origin of the Parisian gathering with several other associations and organizations. “Palestine will live, Palestine will win”, “Israel assassin, Macron accomplice”, “We are all Palestinians” chanted the crowd waving Palestinian flags and those of the organizations present such as the NPA, the UNEF or the CGT. According to the latter union, whose general secretary Philippe Martinez was present, 3,000 to 4,000 people were gathered.
Other rallies and parades were held in France. Some 1,100 people demonstrated in Lyon, according to the Rhône prefecture, or as many as the previous Saturday. A minute of silence was observed for bereaved families in Gaza as the procession progressed with a large police force.
A call for a boycott of Israel
In Strasbourg, they were between 650 and 1,000. In Lille, around 1,000 demonstrators, according to the organizers, 650 according to a police source, marched behind a banner “Against colonization, military occupation and apartheid”, calling for a boycott of Israel. They were also several hundred in Toulouse, Montpellier, Saint-Etienne and Annecy.