A success despite the controversies. At least 105,000 people, according to the Police Prefecture, marched peacefully on November 12 in Paris, between the Place des Invalides and the Senate. Many French people were unable to complete the “great civic march” against anti-Semitism desired by the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, and the President of the Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, as a A human tide had gathered under the Parisian gray, interspersed with clearings. There were blue-white-red and Israeli flags. Marseillaise and Jewish songs were sung.
“I am extremely confident, because today we showed the most beautiful image of France, all together, whatever our political parties,” declared Yaël Braun-Pivet in front of the Luxembourg Palace, during a press point just before leaving the procession, at 4:30 p.m. “We want to tell our fellow citizens of the Jewish religion that we are at their side, that we are mobilized, that we will not let anything slip through,” then assured the Prime Minister, Élisabeth. Thick headed.
Also read: Guillaume Tabard: “A successful march against anti-Semitism which proves those who were intentionally absent wrong”
The procession set off from the front of the National Assembly. He then made a first stop to sing a Marseillaise, orchestrated by Gérard Larcher, then taken up by the crowd gathered over several kilometers. Behind a thick banner which included the slogan of the demonstration, “For the Republic, against anti-Semitism”, a square of political figures led the parade alongside the two presidents of the chamber and the head of government, at the first ranks including the former heads of state, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, former prime ministers, from Manuel Valls to Édouard Philippe, but also a host of ministers and former ministers.
Among the political heavyweights, an absence stood out. That of Emmanuel Macron, who preferred to send a letter to the French, revealed Saturday evening by Le Parisien, in which he denounces “the unbearable resurgence of unbridled anti-Semitism”, a few hours before the great Parisian march.
“In these moments, the head of state must be there for the unity of the nation. It is its absence which calls it dangerously into question today. It’s a mistake, and it will be a mistake in the face of history,” castigated the boss of the Republicans, Éric Ciotti. “He could have been there, other presidents had been there,” lamented the communist Fabien Roussel, in reference to the presence of François Mitterrand, in 1990, during a rally against anti-Semitism in Carpentras (Vaucluse). At the end of the demonstration, the president of Crif, Yonathan Arfi, let slip a bit of disappointment, recognizing that the arrival of the head of state “would have made this event even more historic”.
The march was calm, but the tension rose a notch on the Esplanade des Invalides, still sparse before the departure of the procession. Under a mass of microphones and cameras, the national secretary of EELV, Marine Tondelier, the boss of the PCF, Fabien Roussel, and the first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure, advance together under the boos of some of the demonstrators. “Get out!” says a man. Another follows him: “The real fascists, they are there! Collaborators!” “It seemed to us that our place was here. We have always been in the marches against anti-Semitism,” assured Marine Tondelier. “The entire right and the extreme right, although united, have failed to reproduce the general mobilizations of the past,” declared Jean-Luc Mélenchon on X (ex-Twitter), before adding: “The rejection of anti-Semitism is wider in France. They stunted it and made it ambiguous. The French people will remain united despite their leaders.”
Éric Zemmour and Marion Maréchal, the two figures of Reconquête!, arrived discreetly at the demonstration. That doesn’t mean they didn’t have anything to say. “In France, Jews and Christians were chased out of Islamized neighborhoods. The jihadists first attack the Jews, then the Christians,” said Éric Zemmour, before doubling the National Rally delegation.
Marine Le Pen arrived with a closed face. She was accompanied by Jordan Bardella, also just as closed. The “natural” candidate of the RN and the president of the party joined the fifty frontist deputies who were waiting for them. Barely getting out of her car, near Place Salvador-Allende, towards the tail of the procession, the MP for Pas-de-Calais explained to the press that she was “exactly where she should be”. She castigated the “petty politicking” of her adversaries, notably government spokesperson Olivier Véran, who have been explaining for a week that the presence of the RN at the demonstration is “indecent”. Jordan Bardella and the former RN presidential candidate then remained silent.
There was a tense moment when a small group called Golem, bringing together around thirty “left-wing Jews”, wanted to disrupt the arrival of Marine Le Pen and her troops with shouts of “Le Pen, get lost, Jews They don’t want you.” They were subdued by the police. Marine Le Pen’s face relaxed when the first applause rang out. Demonstrators shouted several times: “Bravo, the RN. Well done, Marine Le Pen.” The frontist leader was also accompanied by Sébastien Chenu, RN deputy, vice-president of the National Assembly, the rest of the elected officials formed a long line. At one point, Marine Le Pen’s troops found themselves between the group of the sulfurous Jewish Defense League, which largely applauded the frontist leader, and a delegation from Crif, largely hostile to the RN. A close friend of Marine Le Pen observed, laughing: “You see, we are in the center!”
