SARCELLES, France – A French rally against the deadly Israeli offensive in Gaza once again descended into chaos as protesters looted shops and riot police lobbed tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowds.
The demonstration in the northern Paris suburb of Sarcelles is the third to have deteriorated in the space of eight days in a country that counts the largest Muslim population in western Europe and a huge Jewish community.
A decision by authorities to ban protests in areas deemed too sensitive has also garnered controversy as they took place anyway and turned violent, while authorised ones elsewhere in the country — as well as in other cities across Europe — were peaceful.
From Vienna to Stockholm and on to Amsterdam, thousands rallied yesterday to oppose Israel’s offensive, which has left about 400 Palestinians and 20 Israelis dead.
Though patrolled by police, few incidents were reported in those demonstrations.
“We’re not anti-Semites, we’re here for the people. We call on Europeans and Americans to finally do something,” organisers of the 11,000-strong march in Vienna said.
But in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles — sometimes nicknamed “little Jerusalem” for its large community of Sephardic Jews — a banned but orderly demonstration of several hundred descended into chaos when dozens of youths — some of them masked — set fire to bins and lit firecrackers and smoke bombs.
