( Breitbart )
Police fired tear gas and used water cannons in clashes with violent pro-Palestinian protesters on Saturday in Paris.
Around 22,000 people took part in protests across France related to the conflict between Israel and Hamas on Saturday, including between 2,500 to 3,500 people demonstrating in Paris, despite a ban.
Violence was seen during the protests in Paris, where 44 of the 51 nationwide arrests were made. Le Monde reported that 15 people in the capital were in police custody by the early evening for charges including “participation in a group intent on violence” and “violence against the police ”.
Across France, two officers said to have suffered “light injuries” — one officer in Nice and the other in the French capital.
The Associated Press reported that Paris’s Police Chief Didier Lallement had ordered 4,200 security officers onto the streets due to fears of violence after the ban was imposed.
French officials had noted that a ban on a July 2014 anti-Israel protest had also resulted in violence.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said: “We do not want there to be scenes of violence, we do not want to import a conflict on French soil, we do not want a hate crisis in the streets of the French Republic.”
French police used water cannons and tear gas on the protesters in Paris, with a Monde journalist at the scene describing several hours of tense, at times close proximity, interactions between rioters and officers.
The newspaper reports that Palestinian flags were waved while protesters shouted “Israel murderer”, “Free Palestine”, and “Palestine will live. Palestine will win.”
The rally’s 30 organising groups are said to include the Association of Palestinians in Ile-de-France, the New Anticapitalist Party, and the Paris-Banlieue Antifascist Action.