Marches against anti-Semitism to take place across France
The Local France - [email protected]
Published: 18 Feb, 2019 CET.
Updated: Mon 18 Feb 2019 17:18 CET
Marches against anti-Semitism will be taking place in several French cities on Tuesday as people take to the streets at a time when anti-Semitic acts are on the rise in France.
Among those demonstrating will be high profile politicians including France's Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer and government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux.
Minister for European Affairs, Nathalie Loiseau has also said she plans to march, saying "there is a leprosy that rises in Europe, we must fight it and we will shoot it down".
Former French President Francois Hollande is set to attend as are former Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and the former mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe.
Leader of left-wing political party La France Insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon will also demonstrate.
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French President Emmanuel Macron will not be joining in the marches however he will be attending the 34th annual dinner of CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish organisations on Wednesday where he will give a speech.
Meetings have been organized in a large number of French cities, including in Paris at Place de la Republique, Nice, Strasbourg, Metz, Pau, Lille, Tours, Limoges, Valence, Perpignan, Marseille, Caen, Saint-Etienne and Avignon.
Anti-Semitic acts surged by 74 percent in France, home to Europe's largest population, last year, from 311 in 2017 to 541 in 2018.
"Anti-Semitism is spreading like poison," said French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.
In two separate incidents in recent weeks, swastikas were drawn on Paris postboxes containing portraits of late Holocaust survivor Simone Veil and the word Juden (German for Jews) was sprayed on the window of a bagel bakery in the capital (see photo above).
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Among those demonstrating will be high profile politicians including France's Minister of Education Jean-Michel Blanquer and government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux.
Minister for European Affairs, Nathalie Loiseau has also said she plans to march, saying "there is a leprosy that rises in Europe, we must fight it and we will shoot it down".
Former French President Francois Hollande is set to attend as are former Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve and the former mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe.
Leader of left-wing political party La France Insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon will also demonstrate.
READ ALSO:
French President Emmanuel Macron will not be joining in the marches however he will be attending the 34th annual dinner of CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish organisations on Wednesday where he will give a speech.
Meetings have been organized in a large number of French cities, including in Paris at Place de la Republique, Nice, Strasbourg, Metz, Pau, Lille, Tours, Limoges, Valence, Perpignan, Marseille, Caen, Saint-Etienne and Avignon.
Anti-Semitic acts surged by 74 percent in France, home to Europe's largest population, last year, from 311 in 2017 to 541 in 2018.
"Anti-Semitism is spreading like poison," said French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.
In two separate incidents in recent weeks, swastikas were drawn on Paris postboxes containing portraits of late Holocaust survivor Simone Veil and the word Juden (German for Jews) was sprayed on the window of a bagel bakery in the capital (see photo above).
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