France's divisions exposed by march against anti-Semitism
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 More than a thousand anti-semitic acts have been recorded in France since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war.
00:06 In the face of this rise in suspected hate crime,
00:10 leaders of France's Senate and National Assembly have called for an unprecedented march,
00:15 bringing together politicians of all stripes to condemn anti-semitism.
00:19 They say the Republic is in danger, its very foundations under attack,
00:24 and there's a need to rise up and make it clear that France does not accept anti-semitism.
00:30 All of France's political parties have been invited to take part.
00:35 The far-right National Rally was among the first to accept.
00:39 I will take part, our party president will be there, all of our elected representatives will be there,
00:46 and I call on all of our members and voters to come and join this march.
00:50 That's sitting badly with the government and left-wing parties.
00:55 They say the National Rally is not welcome,
00:58 given the party founder and presidential candidate's father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, is a convicted Holocaust denier.
01:04 In my opinion, the National Rally has no place in this march.
01:09 But it's a public march, which anyone is free to take part in or not, according to their conscience.
01:15 At the other end of the spectrum, the leftist France Unbowed is not taking part.
01:21 Its leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon believes the stated purpose of the march is a pretext.
01:26 He's called it a meeting for the friends of unconditional support for the massacre,
01:31 a step too far for other leftist politicians who are now distancing themselves from Mélenchon.
01:37 That's Jean-Luc Mélenchon's usual over-the-top words.
01:42 It's finished. We've cut ties with Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Our alliance is buried. It's over.
01:49 A march that's meant to unify France's parties is already highlighting the cracks.