Massive rallies in Paris denounce xenophobia, support Palestine

By Hafsa Alami

PARIS (AA) - Despite cold and rainy weather, thousands marched Saturday in Paris to express solidarity for Palestinians in Gaza and denounce racism and xenophobia.

A rally that started from the Place de la Republique, was organized by the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and the France-Palestine Solidarity Association.

Under the slogan, “In the streets and in the minds,” the CGT and other unions denounced far-right ideas and the government paving the way for those ideas to flourish.

“It is essential to say that collectively we cannot be satisfied with the ideas of the far-right, that the ideas of exclusion are becoming commonplace,” French teacher Julien told Anadolu. “We still had an immigration law, which was fortunately partially repealed, but which attacked this fundamental basis of what can be together, which is the right of equality and the land,” he added.

Demonstrators criticized several laws recently announced by the government of President Emmanuel Macron, including the immigration law, a ban on abayas at schools, reform of unemployment insurance and RSA (Active Solidarity Income).

In short, they accused the government of continuing to adopt far-right ideas in policies and its offensive against foreigners and the working class.

Under the slogan, “Stop genocide, Palestine Solidarity,” a second rally demanded an immediate cease-fire to save the lives of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

French MP representing La France Insoumise (LFI) Eric Coquerel told Anadolu he participated in this march “to speak up against the far-right and the far-right nation that is underway in this country, but also against the genocide that is still taking place in the Strip of Gaza”.

The deputy for Seine-Saint-Denis led a delegation of 22 officials, mainly left-wing parliamentarians, last week to Rafah on the border between Gaza and Egypt.

“I can say that the situation there is very critical and requires an urgent intervention to put an end to the Israeli military war which leads to the massacre of Palestinian people,” said Coquerel.

Since Oct. 7. French politicians’ opinions about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, have been divided.

As far-right political parties and the French government declared unconditional support for Israel, the leaders of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party, LFI, were accused of finding justifications for Hamas’ attack on Israel and refusing to qualify the Islamist movement as a “terrorist” organization.

As a consequence, France's biggest left-wing party in parliament, France Unbowed, denounced an increase in death threats and telephone harassment against its elected officials and activists.

“It is fundamental that we are here today, first of all because of the Palestinian issue and because of the oppression of Palestinian people by Israel that is the same as we experience in the imperialist countries, including France, by the current government,” labor inspector and anti-racist neighborhood activist Mournia Labsi told Anadolu.

“Migrants are facing discrimination and a form of neocolonialism, just as the Palestinians experience the Israeli colonization,” she said.

During a ceremony to pay tribute to 42 French victims, Macron described the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas as the “biggest anti-semitic massacre of our century.”

Representatives of the Israeli Embassy in Paris attended the ceremony at the Invalides memorial complex in Paris. Israeli President Isaac Herzog was not present due to scheduling reasons.

Many families of the French victims killed in Israel criticized the presence of the hard-left Unbowed party, accusing it of not sufficiently condemning Hamas.

In return, figures from LFI said Macron should also host a memorial for French citizens killed by Israeli bombardments in the Gaza Strip.