Yahoo – AFP,
Juliette Montesse, Sim Sim Wissgott, 21 July 2014
 |
Pro-Palestinian
protesters during a demonstration against Israel's military
action in the Gaza
strip, in Vienna July 20, 2014 (AFP Photo/Joe Klamar)
|
Sarcelles
(France) (AFP) - A French rally against the deadly Israeli offensive in Gaza
once again descended into chaos Sunday as protesters looted shops and riot
police lobbed tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowds.
The
demonstration in the northern Paris suburb of Sarcelles is the third to have
deteriorated in the space of eight days in a country that counts the largest
Muslim population in western Europe and a huge Jewish community.
A decision
by authorities to ban protests in areas deemed too sensitive has also garnered
controversy as they took place anyway and turned violent, while authorised ones
elsewhere in the country -- as well as in other cities across Europe -- were
peaceful.
From Vienna
to Stockholm and on to Amsterdam, thousands rallied on Sunday to oppose
Israel's offensive, which has left more than 400 Palestinians and 20 Israelis
dead.
Though
patrolled by police, few incidents were reported in those demonstrations.
"We're
not anti-Semites, we're here for the people. We call on Europeans and Americans
to finally do something," organisers of the 11,000-strong march in Vienna
said.
But in the
Paris suburb of Sarcelles -- sometimes nicknamed "little Jerusalem"
for its large community of Sephardic Jews -- a banned but orderly demonstration
of several hundred descended into chaos when dozens of youth -- some of them
masked -- set fire to bins and lit firecrackers and smoke bombs.
 |
People take
part in a demonstration in Marseille, southern France, on July 19,
2014, to protest against Israel's military
campaign in Gaza and show their
support to
the Palestinian people (AFP Photo/Franck Pennant)
|
Looters
then began raiding shops, wrecking a funeral home and destroying its front
window as several protesters shouted: "Fuck Israel!".
Access to
synagogue blocked
Others
raided a drugstore which caught fire. Young girls grabbed baby milk inside.
"We're
going to get the cash register," one person shouted, his voice drowned by
the noise of a police helicopter overhead and the alarm of a nearby pizzeria.
Not far
away, riot police blocked access to the local synagogue, where a group of young
men stood armed with clubs and iron bars -- one of them flying an Israeli flag.
The deadly
bombing of Gaza has brought to light deep divides within French society -- a
Jewish community increasingly concerned over anti-Semitism, a growing radical
Islamic fringe, and far-left activists whose opposition to Israeli policies
sometimes verges on anti-Semitism.
The
violence in Sarcelles closely mirrored that of a rally Saturday in a northern
district of Paris, when a protest that began peacefully spiralled out of
control, leading to clashes with riot police and dozens of arrests.
 |
An Israeli
soldier gestures on a Merkava
tank, as part of the Israeli army
deployment near
Israel's border with
the Gaza Strip on July 20, 2014
(AFP Photo/Menahem Kahana)
|
Some
commentators in France, and the left-wing party which helped organise
Saturday's march, railed against the ban, particularly as other protests in
France and Europe took place without incident.
On
Saturday, parts of central London were brought to a standstill as thousands
marched against the Israeli offensive.
London saw
both pro- and anti-Israel rallies on Sunday, but police kept demonstrators at a
distance and no arrests were made.
Some 11,000
marched in central Vienna on Sunday to protest "the murder and oppression
in Palestine".
"We're
not anti-Semites, we're here for the people. We call on Europeans and Americans
to finally do something," the organisers said at the start of the march.
Smaller
protests of 500 to 600 people were also held in the Austrian cities of Graz and
Linz.
In
Amsterdam, they were some 3,000 marchers carrying signs including "Stop
the war" and "Israel war criminals," an AFP correspondent said.
"It
just has to stop. Children are being killed and they are innocent," said
Ekrem Kara, 32, wearing a traditional Palestinian black and white keffiyeh
scarf.
In
Stockholm about 1,000 people protested.
Another
Paris rally
France's
Prime Minister Manuel Valls defended the decision to stop the Paris protest,
saying the violence that unfolded "justifies all the more the brave choice
by the interior ministry to ban a demonstration."
 |
French
Prime Minister Manuel Valls
delivers a speech in Paris on July 20,
2014 (AFP
Photo/Francois Guillot)
|
He said it
was spreading "on the Internet, on networks, in working class areas, among
young people who are often aimless, who have no awareness of history, who hide
their 'hatred of the Jews' behind the facade of anti-Zionism and behind hatred
of the Israeli state."
President
Francois Hollande also hit out at anti-Semitism and racism Sunday, saying it
would not be tolerated.
"The
Republic is about being able to live together, to look at our history and at
the same time to always be ready to defend democratic values, not to be
influenced by arguments that are too far away from here to be imported, not to
be swept away by global shock waves," he said.
Meanwhile,
former French prime minister and leading right-wing politician Alain Juppe
criticised the Israeli offensive, which he said was seeking to destroy Hamas
but "mostly what we see is terrorised families caught in the trap of the
Tsahal's bombardments".
On his
blog, Juppe said he "does not understand the Israeli government's
strategy", and called for an immediate truce.
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