Israel-Hamas: silent march in Paris at the call of the world of culture

Several thousand people mobilized on Sunday Paris à; the call from the world of culture for a "silent march" and "apolitical" for peace in the Middle East, noted an AFP journalist.

Among them, the actress Isabelle Adjani, the writer Marek Halter and the former Minister of Culture Jack Lang, the procession setting off from the Institute of the Arab World (IMA), of which he is at the head.

“People are there to appease. They do not necessarily think the same thing. I fully support this demonstration of unity”, declared the former minister to the press.

Among the demonstrators, few young people, people wearing white armbands or waving a blue flag with a white dove and the word “peace”, noted an AFP journalist on the spot.

With a large white banner without a slogan, the procession set off around 2:40 p.m. very symbolically from the square in front of the IMA towards the Museum of Art and History of Judaism.

“We have opted for absolute neutrality in response to the noise of weapons, to the vociferation of extremism,” actress Lubna Azabal (“Fires”, “Le bleu du caftan”), president of the collective told Libération. origin of this initiative supported by 600 personalities from the world of culture.

This demonstration is being held one week after the march against anti-Semitism, followed by 100,000 people in Paris.

Saturday , pro-Palestinian mobilizations to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza brought together thousands of demonstrators across France.

Criticized for their silence in the face of the Israel-Hamas war, cultural figures chose to demonstrate “in silence”, “another way of expressing ourselves because we can't do it”, summarized on France 5 actress Julie Gayet, member of the collective.

“We have wanted to be able to express our sadness and our astonishment since October 7. The idea is to have another voice, to not choose a side to hate,” she stressed on RTL.

Lubna Azabal, who also denounces “the injunctions to choose sides”, admitted having had difficulty attracting young faces in music and cinema who “are afraid of losing” their subscribers on the social networks and “being labeled even within the framework of such a unifying initiative”.

“I don't want to let hatred win, and that's precisely the meaning” of this march, for her part declared to Le Parisien the actress and director Agnès Jaoui who lost two members of his family in the attacks perpetrated on October 7 in Israel and without news of three relatives taken hostage.

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