French prosecutors have launched hate speech and incitement to violence investigations into anti-Semitism banners seen during demonstrations against the country’s coronavirus health pass, which is now required for many daily activities.
In the recent anti-health pass During the demonstration, the protesters waved placards with syringes forming swastikas, wearing yellow stars or holding banners with the words “Qui?” (Who?) This has become the latest anti-Semitic slogan of the extreme right and conspiracy theorists.
After the fourth Saturday demonstration in Paris, the city’s prosecutor stated that the police are investigating whether there are some flag-waving people”Provoking public hatred or violence Oppose a group of people because of their origin, belonging or not belonging to a particular ethnic group, nationality, race or religion.”
Last week, teacher and former far-right National Front official Cassandre Fristot was investigated After carrying cardboard placards during an anti-pass parade in the eastern town of Metz.
It says “mais qui”, followed by the names of famous French and international Jews and their so-called supporters. The education authorities have suspended Fristo’s work. She will appear in court in September and is charged with inciting racial hatred. If convicted, she will face one year in prison and a fine of up to 45,000 euros (38,000 pounds).
Supporters of the French Anti-Health Pass Campaign claim that the measure requires people to prove that they have been fully vaccinated, tested negative for Covid or recovered from the virus before accessing many medical services and enjoying daily activities. This is a threat to individuals. And civil liberties.
The movement has the support of the extreme right and left in the country’s political spectrum, as well as Gilets Jaunes (yellow vests), other opposition groups, and a series of conspiracy theorists.
However, the placards under investigation indicate that the protests have been intertwined with a new wave of anti-Semitism in France, where there have been multiple reports of vandalism and graffiti with Nazi symbols and “Qui?” In recent weeks in buildings, monuments, churches and vaccine centers.
In the coastal town of Perros-Guirec in Brittany-known as the city of hydrangea-the locals recently woke up in a depressing sense of déjà vu, within two weeks For the fourth time in the local commemoration of Holocaust survivor, lawyer Simone Veil, politician, feminist and abortion activist, destroyed. Once again, graffiti includes swastikas.
Robert Ejnes, executive director of the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France (CRIF), said that the latest wave of anti-Semitism—just like Perros-Guirec )’S destructive behavior-frustratingly familiar.
“This is worrying not only for the Jews, but also for the entire French society, because anti-Semitism is only the beginning of the process that leads to the expression of hatred towards’other people’,” Enes said.
“These people are taking advantage of all the anti-Semitic prejudices of the worst period in French history, Europe, So of course it worries us,” Ejnes added.
In France, “Qui?” went viral after receiving a TV interview with retired army general Dominique Delawarde in June, who suggested that certain groups were controlling the “media pack”. Dravad was asked to tell who he was referring to, and he answered the question “mais qui?” (But who?) Say: “That famous neighborhood”.
Dravad is a Controversial letter “Disintegration” warning issued in April of this year France Arouse what it calls the “danger” of Islamic extremists and the “tribes” from France suburbs, Poor and run-down urban suburbs, especially suburbs outside of Paris. The letter also accused anti-racist groups of creating “hatred among communities” and warned that “lax” government policies may cause chaos and require military action to “protect our civilized values.”
Polls Ifop from Sunday Magazine It was found on Sunday that 73% of French people said they thought anti-Semitic slogans and social media posts by people opposed to health passes were shocking and “inciting hatred.” Among those who claim to support or sympathize with anti-passing sports, this percentage drops to 53%.
Enes said: “It is becoming more and more worrying [antisemitism] It is considered more and more normal and more and more mediocre in French society. We have seen people expressing publicly and claiming that this is freedom of speech. He criticized those who portrayed French President Emmanuel Macron as Hitler and wore yellow stars to show their opposition to the health pass.
“Compare the symbol of excluding those who are rounded up, expelled, and killed with health passes designed to protect the people and protect others… We have huge intellectual difficulties in understanding this,” he said.
On Sunday, about 100 Perros-Guirec residents gathered to commemorate Veil and condemn the vandals.
Veil was born in 1917, was deported to Auschwitz as a teenager, and lost his mother, father and brother in the death camp.she Survived the Holocaust and became a famous figure in French and European politics, Fighting for abortion rights, fighting anti-Semitism, and in 1979 served as the first chairperson of the directly elected European Parliament and the first woman to hold that position.
Perros-Guirec’s pastor Pierre Kerlévéo described the attack on the memorial as “intolerable”. A local woman who put a rose on the monument, Liliane, told Western France: “Attacking the memory of this great lady, she did so much for women and suffered so many atrocities in the war. Shocking and abominable. Therefore, it shows the importance of our rejection of such gestures.”
Macron also condemned the desecration of the monument. “We will never tolerate anti-Semitism,” he said Tweet“For Simone Weil, whose monument was desecrated, I want to repeat it to everyone: France will not back down.”
