Israel-Hamas conflict: several thousand people participate in the silent march launched by the world of culture in Paris

To “make another voice heard: that of union.” Several thousand people mobilized on Sunday in Paris in response to a call from 600 personalities from the world of culture, including Isabelle Adjani, Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Claude Lelouch, and even Muriel Robin, for “a silent march” this Sunday November 19 in Paris.

The writer Marek Halter and the former Minister of Culture Jack Lang were part of the procession which set off from the Institute of the Arab World (IMA), led by the same Jack Lang. “People are there to appease. They don't necessarily think the same thing. I fully support this demonstration of unity,” the former minister told 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”. With a large white banner and 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.

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“Since October 7, 2023, horror and suffering have torn Palestinians and Israelis apart according to a monstrous mathematics that has already lasted for a long time,” we could read in the press release from “Une Autre Voix, Ensemble”, the collective at the origin of this walk. This fratricidal war affects us all, and whatever our reasons or affinities on either side of the wall, we hope that it will end and that the two peoples can finally live in peace. Two peoples taken hostage by policies that we cannot control, which are beyond our control and of which we are powerless witnesses.”

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, not to choose a side to hate,” she stressed on RTL.

“I do not want to let hatred prevail, and that is precisely the meaning” of this march, for her part declared to Le Parisien the actress and director Agnès Jaoui who lost two members of her family in the attacks perpetrated on October 7 in Israel and no news of three relatives taken hostage.

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On Saturday, pro-Palestinian mobilizations to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza brought together thousands of demonstrators across France. Thousands of demonstrators were present in Paris. In Marseille, several hundred people gathered near the Old Port. In Toulouse, a morning procession brought together between 1,200 people according to the prefecture and 4,000 according to the CGT.

The Socialist Party, the French Communist Party and Europe Ecologie Les Verts, who participated in Saturday's march in the Parisian procession, also called in their press release to participate this Sunday in the march initiated by the collective “Une Autre Voix, Ensemble” .