Paris Braced for New Pro-Palestinian Rally after Clashes
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Four days after pro-Palestinians defied a protest ban and clashed with police in Paris, the French capital is preparing for a new march. Wednesday’s rally is legal, but authorities and organisers are nonetheless taking added precautions.
The march in solidarity with Palestinians in conflict-ravaged Gaza will begin at Place Denfert-Rochereau at 6pm local time and snake through the Left Bank of Paris.
There was a subdued tension in the capital ahead of the rally that has been called by left-wing political parties, unions, pro-Palestinian activists and pacifist groups, AFP reported.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve took to radio airwaves on Wednesday morning to say that added security measures would be in place, and to warn that acts of anti-Semitism would be swiftly punished.
“I have given specific orders to security forces so they can quickly intervene if any anti-Semitic acts are committed,” Cazeneuve told France Inter radio, reminding listeners that anti-Semitic slogans were a criminal offense under the law.
Cazeneuve, the head of France’s police, was hoping to avoid a repeat of the chaotic scenes that erupted in northern Paris over the past two weekends.
Pro-Palestinians who assembled in northern Paris on Saturday, despite a ban by police, ran through clouds of tear gas and threw rocks at security forces sent to disperse them.
