Tens of thousands of people have marched in cities in France this week in support of the Jewish community and to protest against a recent spate of antisemitic attacks, under the slogan “That’s Enough”.
Figures from across the political spectrum and former French Presidents joined the demonstrations, which were endorsed by more than 50 political parties, unions and associations.
Demonstrations were reported in 60 cities across France.
On Tuesday, 96 graves in a Jewish cemetery in eastern France near Strasbourg were found to have been desecrated and graffitied with swastikas.
In the past week, antisemitic vandals defaced portraits of the late Holocaust survivor and French minister Simone Veil, scrawled the German word for “Jews” on a Parisian bakery and cut down a tree planted in memory of a Jewish youth tortured to death by an antisemitic gang.
French Jewish philosopher Alain Finkielkraut was filmed being called a “dirty Jew” and “bloody Zionist” by Yellow Vest protesters on Saturday.
In light of the protests, French President Emmanuel Macron announced new measures to tackle antisemitism, and confirmed that France will be adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
France is home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel and the US, with 500,000 people.
Last week, statistics published showed a 74% rise in the number of antisemitic attacks in France from 2017 to 2018.
