PARIS – Marches in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were being held Saturday in a dozen French cities, but the focus was on Paris, where riot police got ready as organizers said they would defy a ban on the protest.
Paris police chief Didier Lallement ordered shops closed around the starting point of the planned march in a working-class neighborhood in northern Paris after an administrative court confirmed the ban.
Authorities noted a banned July 2014 pro-Palestinian protest against an Israeli offensive in Gaza that degenerated into violence and running battles with police to justify the order against Saturday’s march.