Several thousand people demonstrated on Saturday in several French cities for a "ceasefire" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and against the "massacre" in Gaza, gathering in Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, Rennes and Bordeaux, AFP journalists said.
Summoned with the slogan "Stop the massacre in Gaza! France must demand an immediate ceasefire," the Parisian demonstration, 16,200 strong according to the prefecture, started from the Place de la République. In the procession, many Palestinian flags, and parties and associations classified on the left and the far left that gave their support to this march: La France insoumise (LFI), the NPA, the Ecologists, Attac...
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I came to support the Palestinian cause, for the ceasefire in Gaza," Ahlem Triki, an engineer from Yvelines, told AFP with a Palestinian flag draped over her shoulders. Five weeks after the start of the war unleashed by the bloody attack launched on its soil by the Palestinian Islamists of Hamas on 7 October, 1200,11 people have been killed in Israel, the majority of them civilians, and 078,4506 in Israel's retaliatory bombing of the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, including <>,<> children. according to Hamas' Ministry of Health.
Read alsoIsrael-Hamas conflict: anger rises in Arab countries, over the suffering of Gazans
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I am for a ceasefire, for peace in the world and between Arabs and Jews. Against the barbarity of Israel and Hamas, both!" said Imen Ghattassi, who was seen by AFP in the procession. LFI MPs Mathilde Panot and Eric Coquerel, whose party has come under fire for its ambiguous positions on anti-Semitism, were present in the procession. "This mobilization is essential in the face of the massacres, because it is a massacre that is underway today in Gaza with more than 10,000 dead (...) in the silence of a large part of the international community," LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard said at the demonstration in Marseille, where at least 1300,<> people, according to the police prefecture, marched.
'Palestine will live'
Hundreds of demonstrators marched peacefully, shouting "Liberate Gaza", carrying flags in Palestinian colours and some carrying placards reading "Stop Genocide in Gaza", "Palestine will live" and "Ceasefire". In Montpellier, where 500 people, according to police, demonstrated, Hayat El Yakoubi, a 40-year-old life assistant, had come with her 10-year-old daughter holding a rose in her hand as a sign of peace.
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We're human. The massacres we are currently seeing in Gaza are heartbreaking. We think of them day and night. Sometimes you have trouble sleeping. It is humanity that is affected because children are affected," she told AFP. In Bordeaux, two separate demonstrations in support of the Palestinian population brought together a few hundred people. "I have been campaigning for anti-colonial struggles for almost 50 years. The only solution is two states, because for me, peace in the world requires the recognition of Palestine," Patrick Julienne, 68, told AFP.
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Above all, Jews and Muslims must not be pitted against each other. This is not a fight, it is a fight for freedom, for respect for international law," he said. Other marches in Toulouse, Rennes, Nice and Ajaccio also brought together a few hundred to a few thousand people, depending on the authorities or the organizers.