Commemorations of October 7: a demonstration called by the Urgence Palestine collective banned in Paris

A demonstration called by the Urgence Palestine collective “against the genocide in Gaza and for respect for the ceasefire”, planned for Wednesday in Paris, the day of the October 7 commemorations, has been banned, police prefect Patrice Faure announced on X. The prefect indicated that he had issued this ban order “at the request of the Minister of the Interior”, Laurent Nuñez. “In a context of high terrorist threat and while anti-Semitic acts remain at a historically high level in our country, such a demonstration on this day poses significant risks of disturbances to public order,” he writes. “Faced with this, in particular, and in view of all the risks identified, my responsibility is to guarantee the safety of all,” he adds.

The Urgence Palestine collective announced to AFP that it would file an appeal with the administrative court. According to the banning order consulted by AFP, a gathering was planned for 6:30 p.m. with “a departure at 7:00 p.m. from the Château-Rouge metro station to an arrival at Place Jules-Joffrin at 9 p.m.”, in the 18th arrondissement of the capital. “In Paris, several commemorations will be organized by associations of the Jewish community this Wednesday” and this demonstration, “having as its slogan the denunciation of the genocide in Gaza, is likely, in the particular context linked to the symbolic charge around this date of October 7, to be perceived as a provocation by the Jewish community and to offend it while anti-Semitic acts remain at a historically high level and represent 53% of all anti-religious acts on the national territory”, according to the order.

Controversial slogans at the heart of the ban on the demonstration

Last year, on October 7, 2025, during “a similar demonstration” at the call of the Urgence Palestine collective, “slogans Israel assassin, Macron complicit, Israel assassin, Carrefour complicit and Fascists, Zionists, you are the terrorists were chanted by the participants which caused a shock within the Jewish community in particular,” it is recalled. There is therefore “a serious risk that similar comments, constituting a disturbance of immaterial public order, will be made again during the demonstration” on Wednesday, develops the decree.