Nationwide protests sweep France against Israel’s hijacking of Gaza aid flotilla Video

On June 9, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in nearly 200 rallies nationwide in France, with over 50,000 gathering in Paris alone.

The protests erupted in response to Israel’s seizure of a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for Gaza and its ongoing blockade of the Palestinian enclave, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

In the French capital, protesters staged a sit-in at Place de la République to conclude the march. Police ordered the crowd to disperse, but many activists remained defiant well into the evening despite police beatings. Around 10 p.m., a left-wing member of parliament announced that the evacuation order had been suspended.

Denis Godard, a revolutionary socialist, told Socialist Worker, “It looks as if this is the biggest protest movement we’ve seen nationally since October 7, 2023.

“In Marseille, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Paris—everywhere—police are on the back foot as spontaneous, unauthorised demonstrations have broken out. In Toulouse, the crowd took over the city’s main square, where demonstrations had been banned for months.”

The wave of anger was sparked after Israeli forces hijacked the Madleen ship, which was attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. The vessel’s crew—now being held by Israeli authorities—includes environmental activist Greta Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament from the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) party.

Despite only a few hours’ notice, working-class communities mobilised rapidly. In Marseille, thousands packed the Old Port. Montpellier saw some 2,000 demonstrators, while more than 1,000 gathered in Bordeaux.

Similar scenes played out in Lyon, Rennes, Saint-Étienne, and across hundreds of towns and cities, where rallies swelled into spontaneous marches.

In Paris, one speaker told the crowd, “We demand the release of the Madleen comrades. The dockers are showing us the way,” he said, referring to French and Italian dockworkers who last week refused to handle Israeli weapons shipments. “We must use the strength of workers against genocide.”

At the port of Fos-sur-Mer near Marseille, workers have refused to load or unload Israeli arms.

In Nantes, protesters unfurled a large Palestinian flag in front of the town hall, chanting “Free Rima! Free our comrades!” and calling on French President Emmanuel Macron to condemn the arrests.

In Toulouse, a demonstrator scaled the town hall to hoist a Palestinian flag as the crowd chanted, “Gaza, Gaza—Toulouse is with you!”

In Nice, demonstrators shouted, “Israel is murdering the children of Palestine,” while in Clermont-Ferrand, protesters called for the release of the freedom flotilla.

LFI national coordinator Manuel Bompard condemned Israel’s actions, saying, “The arrest of the flotilla is illegal. The humanitarian blockade imposed on the people of Gaza is also illegal under international law.” He further criticised the “illegal detention” of French nationals.

By Khagan Isayev