While around 1,000 people gathered in Munich, Germany on May 14 to show solidarity with the Palestinians and the people of Gaza, the Pro Palestinian protest in Paris on Saturday May 15 was banned by the prefecture and administrative court. – Alexander Pohl / Sipa USA / SIPA
End of hopes for the organizers of the demonstration in support of the Palestinian people scheduled for Saturday in Paris. The latter hoped to obtain, in the morning, a few hours before the departure of the procession, the cancellation of the ban on the gathering requested Thursday evening by the Paris police prefect, Didier Lallement. Finally, the administrative court ruled this Friday in the early evening by confirming the ban.
The ban on the gathering was made at the request of the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, because of the risk of “disturbances to public order”. To challenge this “unjust and abusive” order, the lawyers of the Association of Palestinians in Ile-de-France had filed an appeal for interim relief with the administrative court.
A “political” decision
“France is the only democracy to prohibit such a demonstration”, underlines Me Guez Guez, denouncing a violation of the freedom of expression totally “disproportionate” and a decision of a “political” nature.
To justify the ban, Prefect Lallement pointed to “a serious risk” of “serious disturbances to public order”, as well as “abuses against synagogues and Israeli interests”. And put forward, like Gerald Darmanin, the precedent of 2014, when a pro Palestinian demonstration in Paris had degenerated into urban violence.
“Complicity of France with the State of Israel”
“Since 2014, there have been plenty of demonstrations in defense of the Palestinian cause which have taken place without any problem,” replied Me Guez Guez. The Association of Palestinians in Ile-de-France had “condemned this ban” Thursday: one of its officials, Walid Atallah, denounced the “complicity of France with the State of Israel”.
“France guarantees the freedoms of expression and to demonstrate, and Palestine must not be an exception,” he said. “A people receives bombs on the head, dozens of civilians are killed, and we would not have the right to say that we do not agree? “