PARIS – France's interior minister has called on organizers of a banned pro-Gaza protest to observe the order, fearing anti-Semitic violence.
Bernard Cazeneuve made his public appeal shortly before Saturday's demonstration in Paris was to start. Hours earlier, the Council of State, France's top administrative body, ruled the protest ban was legal.
A court had ruled likewise, but organizers said they still planned to hold the protest.
France has Western Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim populations. Two banned pro-Gaza protests last weekend, in Paris and Sarcelles, to the north, degenerated into violence and attacks on synagogues. On Wednesday, an authorized demonstration was peaceful.
Cazeneuve said chatter on social networks indicated a risk that Saturday's protest could become a "cortege of violence."
Fox News' "Antisemitism Exposed" newsletter brings you stories on the rising anti-Jewish prejudice across the U.S. and the world.