A call for a weekend march in Paris against anti-Semitism sparked bitter squabbling between political parties Wednesday despite a surge in anti-Semitic incidents in the country, reports Barron's
The hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party said it would boycott the "great civic march" called by the speakers of the country's two houses of parliament for the French capital on Sunday.
At the same time, the participation of the far-right National Rally (RN) is creating a headache for the left and centre-left, who argue that the renamed National Front (FN) founded by convicted Holocaust denier Jean-Marie Le Pen has no place in such a gathering.
While President Emmanuel Macron has not said yet whether he plans to take part, government spokesman, Olivier Véran, said prime minister Élisabeth Borne would attend the march.
The RN "did not have a place" in the march, Véran insisted.
Communist leader Fabien Roussel said he would "not march alongside" Marine Le Pen's RN, accusing it of being descended from people who were "repeatedly condemned for anti-Semitic remarks" and who "collaborated" with Nazi Germany.
"It's important that there is a march against anti-Semitism," Roussel told public broadcaster France 2.
"We will perhaps march in another place, but not with them," he insisted.
The two speakers of the French legislature, Yaël Braun-Pivet of the National Assembly and Gérard Larcher of the Senate, announced a "general mobilisation" late Tuesday against the upsurge in anti-Semitic acts in France.