The gathering was banned by the prefecture. The police made 21 arrests and 1,359 fines, the police headquarters told franceinfoTV this Saturday evening.
Thousands of people participatedSaturday October 28 in Paris at a gathering “of support for the Palestinian people” banned by the authorities. “Between 3,000 and 4,000 participants” were counted, according to police prefect Laurent Nuñez. A demonstration the day after a night of intense bombings on the Gaza Strip, between Friday and Saturday.
A cordon of CRS surrounded the crowd. Inside, the demonstrators shouted in particular “Gaza! Gaza! Paris is with you!”, “Free Palestine”, “Cease fire”. A Palestinian flag is waved by some, others have signs in their hands “Stop the massacre”. Claude is present in the procession: “Peace is not for tomorrow. The international community has turned a blind eye for too long”estimates the Parisian.
An illegal, but “legitimate” gathering
Groups formed in the streets surrounding the Place du Châtelet, Alice did not hesitate to defy the ban: “This demonstration goes beyond all political or legal considerations. We are here to oppose what happened [vendredi] evening, which is a massacre. We killed children, women and vulnerable people in the night.”
“I cannot condone this, remain passive. It breaks my heart today”
Without mentioning last night’s toll, Hamas mentions more than 7,000 deaths in Palestine since the start of clashes on October 7. Unbearable figures for Patricia, she was present at the two previous Parisian gatherings.
For this, the Paris police headquarters said it feared excesses, the ban was validated by the courts. Patricia does not understand this decision: “There are never any breakages, never any clashes. It always goes very well. We shout, we shout our rage, our pain for Palestine.”
A disproportionate Israeli response
Among the demonstrators, many use the term “genocide” to describe the Israeli strikes, “We do not question the horror of the Hamas attacks of October 7, but Israel’s response is disproportionate.” They talk about civilians“trapped under bomb fire.”
The anger is palpable, as is the concern, after the Internet and telephone cuts in the Gaza Strip. François Sauteré is the co-president of MRAP, the Movement against racism and for the friendship of peoples: “All contacts we had with Palestinians or French people in Gaza have been cut off. It’s a blackout. The Netanyahu government is not listening to its own people, who are saying, ‘Stop your bullshit with your revenge stories, negotiate and bring the hostages back to us.'”
The demonstrators demand “the end of Israel”these are their words, but a large part of them hope above all for an end to the conflict.