Police in Paris has ordered stores near an unauthorized demonstration to close on Saturday, citing “serious risk of disturbances to the public order”.
The demonstration is to commemorate Nakba Day, also known as the Palestinian catastrophe, which marks the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians after the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, reports the DPA news agency.
Authorities in the French capital had banned the demonstration; however, organizers have not taken back their call to protest, and police assume there could be riots, especially as the current tensions in Israel and the Palestinian Territories could draw large crowds to the rally.
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The Paris-based Palestinian Association des Palestiniens en Ile-de-France had sharply criticized the ban on the demonstration.
“We have no interest in being violent,” Pauline Salingue of the New Anticapitalist Party, which supports the demonstration, told Franceinfo radio.
“We will participate in demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine, whether they are authorized or banned.”
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin had ordered the ban on the Paris demonstration on Thursday.
He justified it on the grounds that there had been a massive disturbance of public order in 2014.
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Thousands of people had demonstrated seven years ago against the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip at the time.
During riots, a synagogue and Jewish stores were targeted.
SOURCE-IANS
