France: justice confirms ban on pro-Palestinian demonstration in Paris
Gaza, May 14, 2021. REUTERS - MOHAMMED SALEM
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French justice confirmed Friday, May 14 the ban on a demonstration in support of the Palestinian people, rejecting the appeal filed by lawyers for the Association of Palestinians in Île-de-France.
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"
France is the only democratic country to ban these demonstrations
", reacted to AFP lawyers Me Sefen Guez Guez, Me Dominique Cochain and Me Ouadie Elhamamouchi, announcing to
appeal
"
to the Council of State of this rejection
".
The organizers of the demonstration, scheduled for Saturday in Paris, but banned at the request of the French government, had filed a lawsuit to challenge this decision they consider unjust and abusive and which is causing a lively political debate in France.
They denounce an attack on freedom of expression "
totally disproportionate
" and also deplore the "
political
" nature of this decision "
taken at the request of the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin
".
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The Paris police chief, Didier Lallement, who issued the prohibition order on Thursday, pointed to "
a serious risk
" of "
serious disturbances to public order
", as well as "
abuses against synagogues and interests Israelis
”.
He put forward, like the Minister of the Interior, the precedent of 2014, when a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Paris had degenerated into clashes.
“
Since 2014, there have been plenty of demonstrations in defense of the Palestinian cause which have taken place without any problem,
” replied Me Guez Guez.
"Wouldn't we have the right to say that we don't agree
?"
"
The Association of Palestinians in Île-de-France had "
condemned this ban
" Thursday through the voice of one of its officials, Walid Atallah, who denounced the "
complicity of France with the State of Israel
".
"
France guarantees the freedoms of expression and to demonstrate, and Palestine must not be an exception,
" he stressed.
"
A people receives bombs on the head, dozens of civilians are killed, and we would not have the right to say that we do not agree
?
"
The protest was originally planned to commemorate the Nakba, the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians upon the creation of Israel in 1948. Before the surge in violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip in recent days took shape the prospect of an important gathering.
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Gérald Darmanin asked the prefects on Thursday to closely follow the gatherings planned in other cities in France, not to hesitate to ban them if necessary and to ensure the protection of places frequented by the Jewish community.
The affair provokes a lively debate in the political class between supporters of the government's demand - in the majority, on the right and on the extreme right - and those who denounce an “
unacceptable
”
ban
, on the extreme left.
Clashes between Hamas and Israel have already left more than a hundred dead in a few days in Gaza, a Palestinian enclave under Israeli blockade and controlled by Hamas, and nine on the Israeli side.
They show no sign of appeasement.
(With
AFP
)
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