The anti-Semitic abuses against the philosopher Alain Finkielkraut on the sidelines of a "yellow west" mission in Paris employ French justice. The Paris prosecutor's office initiated according to own data of Sunday preliminary investigations because of the incident. They rely on a paragraph prohibiting public insults based on race, ethnicity or religion. Finkielkraut was shocked by the insults, but wants to do without legal action.
The incident on the brink of the "yellow vests" rally is documented on video footage distributed on the Internet, resulting in a wave of convictions right up to President Emmanuel Macron. You can see how rally participants hurl aggressive insults at the present philosopher's face.
The recordings document statements such as "Get off!", "Dirty crap Zionist", "We are the people" and "France is ours". The video was distributed by the Internet platform "Yahoo! Actualités".
The newspaper "Journal du dimanche" said Finkielkraut: "I felt absolute hatred." He thanked the police for their intervention: "I would have been afraid if there had not been any law enforcement, fortunately they were there." He told LCI that he had the impression that some of those present were also ready to beat him.
Macron condemned the incident on Twitter. "The anti-Semitic insults he has endured challenge everything we are and what makes us a great nation," Macron wrote. As the son of Polish immigrants, who had become a French intellectual, Finkielkraut is "a symbol of what the Republic makes possible for everyone".
Finkielkraut is one of the most famous intellectuals in France. He comes from the leftist milieu, but his opponents criticize him as a "neo-reactionary". At first he was positive about the "yellow west" movement, meanwhile he turned away. "I do not support the rallies," he said Sunday. The "yellow west" movement had become "grotesque".