France rallies to denounce anti-Semitic insults at protests
CGTN
["china"]
Mass rallies were due to be held in Paris and other French cities on Tuesday to denounce a flare-up of anti-Semitic acts which culminated in a violent tirade against a prominent writer during "yellow vest" anti-government protests last weekend.
Political leaders of all stripes called the rallies after a protester was caught on video calling the philosopher Alain Finkielkraut a "dirty Zionist" and telling him that "France belongs to us."
Finkielkraut had initially supported the yellow vest movement, before criticizing the violence carried out against police forces by a fringe of suspected far-right and far-left demonstrators.
Protesters also launched anti-Semitic abuse at Ingrid Levavasseur, who tried to lead a yellow vest list for coming European Parliament elections in Paris over the weekend.
 A street medic attends to a protester injured during clashes with police forces on the Champs Elysees, February 09, 2019. / VCG Photo

 A street medic attends to a protester injured during clashes with police forces on the Champs Elysees, February 09, 2019. / VCG Photo

President Emmanuel Macron called the insults "the absolute negation of who we are and what makes us a great nation. We will not tolerate it."
His office said he would not take part in the rallies, though Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will be among several government officials at a Paris march starting at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) at Place de la Republique.
The yellow vest protests began from the last march against high fuel taxes and rising costs of living blamed on Macron's policies, which critics say favor the well-off.
But officials accuse the grass-roots movement of helping unleash a wave of extremist violence that has fostered anti-Semitic outbursts among some participants.

'Extremist elements'

"This is the response to the national wake-up call we urged last week," said Francis Kalifat of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish organizations.
He was referring to a spate of anti-Jewish vandalism and graffiti discovered in and around Paris in the days following another Saturday of yellow vest protests.
French politicians join a memorial march against anti-Semitism in Paris, France, March 28, 2018

French politicians join a memorial march against anti-Semitism in Paris, France, March 28, 2018

Graffiti on the headquarters of French daily Le Monde used anti-Semitic tropes to refer to Macron's former job as a Rothschild investment banker.
In another incident, the words "Macron Jews' Bitch" was written in English across a garage door in the city center, and the phrase "Jewish pig" was sprayed onto a wall in the northern 18th arrondissement.
But the rise in anti-Semitic acts in France predates the yellow vest movement.
Last year, police recorded a 74 percent surge in reported anti-Jewish offenses, causing alarm in a country that is home to the biggest Jewish population in Europe.
The government has tried to walk a fine line in condemning the recent surge in anti-Semitism while not criticizing what it calls the protesters' legitimate complaints.
Several hundred people join a memorial march against anti-Semitism in Paris, France, March 28, 2018. / VCG Photo

Several hundred people join a memorial march against anti-Semitism in Paris, France, March 28, 2018. / VCG Photo

Several yellow vests have already said they plan to participate in the marches.
But a recent Ifop poll of "yellow vest" backers found that nearly half questioned believed in a worldwide "Zionist plot" and other conspiracy theories.
"The yellow vests aren't an anti-Semitic movement," said Jean-Yves Camus of the Political Radicalisation Observatory in Paris.
"But it's a leaderless, horizontal movement... and extremist elements have been able to drown out the voices of its high-profile figures in the media," he said.
The marches come the day before Macron is expected to address Jewish leaders at the Crif's annual dinner.
(Cover image: People take part in a demonstration called by the yellow vest movement on February 17, 2019. / VCG Photo)
Source(s): AFP