Police fire tear gas on banned Palestinian march in Paris

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By ELAINE GANLEY and BOUBKAR BENZABAT

PARIS (AP) — French riot police fired tear gas and used water cannons Saturday in Paris as protesters supporting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip defied a ban on marching in the French capital.

Thousands of people marched peacefully in other cities in France and elsewhere in Europe — including in London, Rome, Brussels and Madrid — to highlight the plight of the Palestinians.

In Paris, protesters scattered and played cat-and-mouse with security forces in the city’s northern neighborhoods after their starting point for a planned march was blocked.

Paris Police Chief Didier Lallement had ordered 4,200 security forces into the streets and closed shops around the kick-off point for the march in a working-class neighborhood after an administrative court confirmed the ban due to fears of violence. Authorities noted that a banned July 2014 pro-Palestinian protest In Paris against an Israeli offensive in Gaza degenerated into violence to justify the order against Saturday’s march.



Demonstrators walk through tear gas grenades fired by police forces during a banned protest in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Saturday, May, 15, 2021 in Paris. Marches in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were being held Saturday in a dozen French cities, but the focus was on Paris, where riot police got ready as organizers said they would defy a ban on the protest. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/europe-paris-middle-east-israel-palestinian-conflict-government-and-politics-e415198646e3752ed63f1c9627b8cafe

[McKim]

1. Just Wow!!! What has France become?

Just wow, this is shocking! What has France become when they don't have the right to protest?!!

[zentrum]

3. Never thought Macron was capable

...of this. Yes, it destroys the meaning of France.

[JI7]

5. They did protest in other cities in France. Paris one was banned becsuse of security concerns

[GulfCoast66]

7. Because of security concerns protest were banned in Paris.

Don’t you wish we had responded the same way on 1/6 as France did today?

I’ve got no problem with it.

It is dangerous to extrapolate our situation to other nations. France has a serious problem with Islamist in their nation. Part of that is their fault because they do a shitty goal of accepting them into their society. But many of them want no part of a secular, non religious nation where their mores are flaunted in their face. And France is radically secular. Which I love.

France’s Jewish Population is fleeing like never before due to fear intimidation and fear of violence. And it is not white secular Frenchmen responsible for this.

Things are going to get ugly there soon. 5% of their population want no part of a secular society. We’ve seen in the past what the French can do when they feel their core values are threatened. They can be scary at times.

[soryang]

2. Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite

lol

[Mosby]

4. They protested in Belgium today.

Link to tweet

[GulfCoast66]

6. These people are not our allies. But our enemies

Fundamentalist are dangerous. As an ex evangelical Christian no one is harder than on them than me. On DU especially.

But I’ve never once seen a crowd of evangelical Christians standing in the streets chanting “death to gays”.

These people are evil. Their 10th century religion made them that way. Same as the Christofacist.

I’ve got friends that are good progressive Christians. A friend I consider a brother of 42 years who is a leader in his Christian church. Friends since we were 12. His kids are my God Kids. Just because I’m not religious does not mean I despise all religious people. Hardly that.

[Archae]

8. Fundys cause havoc no matter what religion.

Just ask a native of New York City about Orthodox Jews.

Or Palestinians trying to be peaceful about Hamas.

Or Christians about the "Moral Majority."