What is the march against antisemitism in France this Sunday?

Two leading French politicians have called for a civic march against antisemitism to take place in Paris this coming Sunday (November 12).

Gérard Larcher, Les Républicains (centre-right) president of the Senate, and Yaël Braun-Pivet, Renaissance (centrist) president of the National Assembly, put forward the idea in a joint op-ed published on the Le Figaro website earlier this week.

The march has been organised in the context of the rise of antisemitic acts in France since the beginning of the war between Hamas and Israel.

More than 1,000 such acts have been recorded in the past month – twice as many as in the whole of last year.

Read more: GRAPH: Number of antisemitic acts jumps in France

The march organisers have emphasised that this will be strictly a civic event and said there was no possibility of the event being taken over by other agendas.

Mrs Braun-Pivet and Mr Larcher plan to march in front, while for the rest, the parade will be citizen-driven. There will be no speeches.

Starting at 15:00, the march will go between Palais Bourbon, the seat of the Assembly, and the Palais du Luxembourg, the seat of the Senate.

Who will be there?

There has already been much controversy surrounding which political parties will or will not be attending and the motives behind their choices.

Marine Le Pen has confirmed that her party, Rassemblement national, will attend.

The extreme right will also be there, represented by Reconquête, with its two main leaders, Éric Zemmour and Marion Maréchal, announcing they will take part in the event on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

On the other side of the political spectrum, the far-left La France insoumise says it will not participate while reservations have been expressed by the Renaissance and other left-wing parties.

A number of socialist, communist and ecologist parties have announced that they would attend but want to set up "a republican cordon" so as not to mix with the far-right leaders and supporters present, according to a joint statement.

Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, as well as several members of the government including Minister of Justice Éric Dupond-Moretti and Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, are expected to attend.

And what about the president?

President Macron did not comment on his potential participation in the march during his speech to the Grand Orient of France, the country’s main Freemason organisation, on Wednesday (November 9).

The president did however warn against conflating "the rejection of Muslims with the support of Jews"

He warned against those who "prefer to remain ambiguous on the question of antisemitism for the sake of flattering new communities", comments targeting the left.

He then pinpointed those who "claim to support our compatriots of the Jewish faith by confusing the rejection of Muslims with the support of Jews", in a clear allusion to the far right.

"The Republic does not compromise and will not compromise. And we will be ruthless in the face of the bearers of hatred," he added.

It is still unclear whether President Macron will attend the march on Sunday.

Marches countrywide

The event organised by Mrs Braun-Pivet and Mr Larcher is just one of numerous marches taking place all across France this weekend.

A similar event is planned in Strasbourg's place de l'Université at 11:30 and in Reims, in front of the town hall, at 15:00.

There will also be a demonstration against antisemitism at Place Bellecour in Lyon on Sunday at 11:30.

Other cities in which marches have been organised so far include Nice, Metz, Pau, Lille, Tours, Limoges, Valence, Perpignan, Marseille, Caen, Saint-Etienne and Avignon.

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