Paris (AFP)

Supporters for the Palestinian people maintain their call to demonstrate Saturday in Paris despite the ban by the authorities, confirmed by the administrative court, while several other rallies or parades, authorized, are planned across France.

"Because we refuse to silence our solidarity with the Palestinians, and that we will not be prevented from demonstrating, we will be present (at the metro) Barbès" Saturday "at 3 p.m.", affirmed the Association of Palestinians in Ile-de-France. de-France, as well as around thirty other organizations, such as Attac, the Paris-Banlieue Antifascist Action, the New Anticapitalist Party.

The organizers plan to then go to Place de la Bastille, Walid Atallah, one of the organizers, told AFP.

The ban on demonstrating in the capital was taken Thursday evening by the Paris police prefect, Didier Lallement, at the request of the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, due to the risk of "disturbances to public order" .

He also highlighted the precedent of 2014, when a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Paris degenerated into urban violence.

Seized in interim relief by the Association of Palestinians in Ile-de-France, the administrative court confirmed this ban on Friday.

The latter considered that the context "both international and domestic" did not allow "to estimate that the risks of serious disturbances" would not "be as important or even greater than those found in 2014", according to the decision.

The court also ruled that the police, already "strongly mobilized" within the framework of Vigipirate would also be called this weekend to ensure compliance with health measures.

He also recalls that 26 other events are planned in Paris this Saturday.

"Under these conditions", the prefect of police did not "seriously undermine" the freedom to demonstrate, explains the decision, noting however that this "detailed" ban could not be valid as a prohibition in principle of all pro demonstrations. Palestinian.

The Paris police headquarters warned on Twitter that "participating in a prohibited demonstration is subject to a fine of up to € 135".

"France is the only democratic country to ban these demonstrations", protested Me Sefen Guez Guez, Me Dominique Cochain and Me Ouadie Elhamamouchi, lawyers of the Association of Palestinians in Ile-de-Frane, announcing to appeal to the Council of State of this rejection ".

- Events in several regions -

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 came to shape the prospect of an important gathering.

Gérald Darmanin asked the prefects to closely follow the rallies in support of the Palestinian people planned in other cities and to ensure the protection of places frequented by the Jewish community.

This Saturday, some demonstrations were banned, such as in Nice.

On the other hand, - static - gatherings or demonstrations are authorized, in Lyon, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Marseille, Nantes, Rennes, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Lille, Metz or Saint-Etienne.

The affair divides the political class, between support of the request of the government - primarily in the majority, on the right and the extreme right - and those which denounce an “unacceptable” ban, led by La France insoumise (LFI).

The PS mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, deemed the government's decision "wise".

"I fear violence because in 2014, we all remembered an extremely difficult demonstration where terrible words like 'death to the Jews' were uttered," she told AFP.

These calls for demonstrations come against the backdrop of a military escalation unprecedented in recent days since 2014 between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas, in and around the Gaza Strip, and violence in mixed Arab and Jewish Israeli towns.

This conflict has killed 122 Palestinians since Monday, including 31 children, and 900 wounded in the Gaza Strip, according to a latest Palestinian report.

In Israel, nine people were killed including a child and more than 560 injured.

© 2021 AFP