The Paris prefecture of police has announced that two pro-Palestinian demonstrations scheduled for Thursday, October 12, have been banned due to the risks of public disorder. The protests were set to take place at La République square at 6:00 PM.
One of the calls to protest comes from the “National Collective for a Just and Lasting Peace in Palestine”, while the second is organized by the association “France Palestine Solidarity”. Both organizations are demanding an end to the blockade in Gaza implemented by the Israeli government.
Similar demonstrations have already been banned in Marseille and Lyon. On Tuesday evening, approximately 500 people gathered at the synagogue de la Victoire in Paris, a symbolic location for the Jewish community, for a prayer in memory of the victims of the Hamas offensive.
Despite the ban, the CGT labor union still held a rally in Marseille on Tuesday to show support for the Palestinian people in their fight against the Israeli colonial state. Another banned demonstration occurred on Monday evening in Lyon, where 150 people gathered at the Gabriel-Péri square, despite the prefecture’s prohibition.
Following the unprecedented offensive launched by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas from Gaza, Israel declared war on the group on Sunday. This attack has been the deadliest on Israeli territory since its establishment.
