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Macron condemns antisemitic abuse during gilets jaunes Paris protest | Macron condemns antisemitic abuse during gilets jaunes Paris protest |
(about 7 hours later) | |
French officials have strongly condemned anti-Semitic abuse and anti-police attacks by some gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protesters as hundreds gathered in central Paris to mark the third month of the anti-government protests. | |
Prosecutors have launched an investigation into a group of protesters who shouted anti-Semitic insults at philosopher and writer Alain Finkielkraut during demonstrations in the capital on Saturday. | |
Antisemitism rising sharply across Europe, latest figures show | Antisemitism rising sharply across Europe, latest figures show |
In a separate incident, a police car stuck in a traffic jam in Lyon, southeastern France, was stoned by demonstrators. | |
President Emmanuel Macron condemned the abuse directed at Finkielkraut, tweeting: “The anti-Semitic insults he has been subjected to are the absolute negation of what we are and what makes us a great nation. We will not tolerate it.” | |
“The son of Polish immigrants who became a French academician […] is not only a prominent man of letters but the symbol of what the Republic allows everyone,” the president added in another tweet. | |
The abuse - including protesters shouting “Dirty Zionist” and “France is ours” - was caught on video and broadcast on television and social media. | |
The stoning incident in Lyon was also captured on video, with footage filmed from inside the police car showing dozens of protesters throwing stones at the vehicle. | |
“We’re under attack and being stoned,” reported a policeman. | |
The interior minister, Christophe Castaner, described the actions of the protesters as “intolerable”. | |
Finkielkraut, who had voiced support for the “yellow vest” movement before later criticising it, denounced the protests as “grotesque” | |
“I felt absolute hatred and, unfortunately, this is not the first time,” Finkielkraut told Journal du Dimanche. | |
“I no longer back these demonstrations, it’s becoming grotesque, it’s a movement that no longer knows how to stop,” he said. | |
The incident has rekindled claims by Macron that recent acts of anti-Semitic vandalism, including the painting of Nazi swastikas over portraits of famed French holocaust survivor Simone Veil, was the work of far-left and far-right activists within the gilets jaunes movement. | |
The vandalism came amid reports of rising anti-Jewish offences - up 74 percent last year according to police - which have caused alarm. | |
Fourteen political parties have called on people to demonstrate on Tuesday against anti-Semitism. | |
The gilets jaunes protests, which have no organised leadership, began three months ago on 17 November over increasing fuel taxes. | |
They quickly grew into a broader anti-government rebellion fuelled by anger towards Macron. | |
Some 41,500 people took the streets on Saturday, according to police, the 14th consecutive Saturday of protests across the country. | |
There were clashes and arrests in several cities but the level of violence and number of demonstrators were down on the previous weekend. | |
On Sunday, hundreds of protesters marched on the famous Champs-Elysees avenue, this time to mark the anniversary of the start of the movement. | |
France | France |
Paris | Paris |
Antisemitism | Antisemitism |
Emmanuel Macron | Emmanuel Macron |
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