PARIS (Reuters) -France is banning pro-Palestinian protests as they are “likely to generate disturbances to public order”, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Thursday in a letter to prefects across the country.
Earlier this week, Hamas called for protests across the Muslim world on Friday to support Palestinians amid the bloody conflict between the Islamist movement and Israel.
Two pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Paris had already been banned on Thursday for fear of outbursts.
France is home to some of Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish populations and conflicts in the Middle East can stoke tensions there – which Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the government aimed to avert with heightened police protection of Jewish sites, including schools and synagogues.
Since Hamas’ cross-border attack on Israel from Gaza on Saturday, French police have arrested more than 20 people over dozens of antisemitic acts, including harassment of Jewish children by fellow pupils at school, the government said on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Layli Foroudi, Benoit Van Overstraeten; writing by Charlotte Van Campenhout; editing by Mark Heinrich)
