PARIS: France has decided to ban pro-Palestinian protests as they are “likely to generate disturbances to public order”, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Thursday in a letter to prefects across the country.

Earlier this week, Hamas called for protests across the Muslim world on Friday to support Palestinians. Two pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Paris had already been banned on Thursday for fear of outbursts.

France is home to some of Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish populations and conflicts in the Middle East can stoke tensions there — which the interior minister said the government aimed to avert with heightened police protection of Jewish sites, including schools and synagogues.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2023