One European country moved to prohibit demonstrations in support of the Palestinian people after rallies this week led to clashes with police.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced Thursday that pro-Palestinian protests would be banned throughout the country, according to CNN.
The demonstrations arose in opposition to Israel’s forceful response to brutal attacks by Hamas terrorists over the weekend. More than 1,300 people — including at least 27 Americans — were killed by rocket attacks and raiders from Gaza.
In his order announcing the protest ban, Darmanin said the demonstrations were “likely to generate public order disturbances,” according to Politico.
He further pledged that foreign nationals who defy the ban will be “systematically” deported, according to the BBC.
French President Emmanuel Macron cautioned the nation’s public against importing the longstanding conflict between Israel and the Palestinians to the streets of Europe.
“Let us not, through illusion or calculation, add national divisions to international divisions, and let us not give in to any form of hatred,” Macron said in a primetime address, according to France 24.
A large crowd showed up to a pro-Palestine demonstration in Paris in spite of the ban.
Thousands of Palestinian supporters gather in France in open defiance of the ban on protests supporting Palestine. pic.twitter.com/P99jmDxStf
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) October 12, 2023
Pro-Palestinian protesters were dispersed by police — with authorities using tear gas and water cannons to end the demonstration.
French Police and Palestinian protestors are clashing in Paris.
– The French Government has just banned Pro-Palestinian demonstrations and protests in their country.
– They are using teargas and water cannons to break up such protests.
– The Protestors were shouting things… pic.twitter.com/1DaSg9XnpX
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) October 12, 2023
British Home Secretary Suella Braverman declared that some use of the Palestinian flag and some chants could be considered a crime under the U.K.’s laws, according to The Guardian.
“It is not just explicit pro-Hamas symbols and chants that are cause for concern,” Braverman said in a letter to British law enforcement.
“I would encourage police to consider whether chants such as ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ should be understood as an expression of a violent desire to see Israel erased from the world, and whether its use in certain contexts may amount to a racially aggravated section 5 public order offence,” she said.
Support for the mass murder of Israelis on the streets of London tonight?
We are allowing our country and its values to be destroyed. Police stand by and do nothing. pic.twitter.com/KDAUW6HWv4
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) October 9, 2023
Demonstrators bearing Palestinian flags overwhelmed Austrian police officers during a protest in Vienna on Wednesday.
Police officers in Vienna surrounded by a large crowd of Hamas supporters.
What’s happening in Western Europe? pic.twitter.com/iiN0E78EvG
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 12, 2023
Hamas called for a worldwide mobilization of Muslims on Friday to support what it called “the jihad waging Gaza.”
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“Answer the call, muster all your energies, and mobilize in numbers, both light and heavy,” the terrorist group said in a statement Tuesday, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.
The statement urged the “Palestinian people, the masses of the Arab and Islamic world, and free people worldwide” to “strive with your wealth and your lives in the cause of Allah.”
