French politicians joined thousands of marchers in <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/paris/" target="_blank">Paris</a> on Sunday to condemn a surge in anti-Semitic acts in the country during the conflict in the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/gaza" target="_blank">Gaza</a> Strip. The leaders of <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/france/" target="_blank">France's</a> two houses of parliament called the protest after a three-fold increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents, compared with the whole of 2022, since <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/hamas" target="_blank">Hamas's</a> October 7 attack on Israel. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and former presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy led the march, holding a banner with the slogan "For the Republic, against anti-Semitism". They led several renditions of the French national anthem. Police estimated 105,000 people took part in Sunday's march. <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/emmanuel-macron/" target="_blank">President Emmanuel Macron</a>, whose decision not to attend drew criticism from some politicians, published an open letter supporting the march and condemning "the unbearable resurgence of unbridled anti-Semitism". The run-up to the march was marked by wrangling over which parties should be represented. The far-right National Rally's decision to take part prompted the radical-left France Unbowed party to distance itself from the event, although other left-wing parties attended. Left-wing politicians have joined pro-Palestinian protests in recent weeks, including a march in Paris on Saturday. Calls by Mr Macron in recent days for a ceasefire in Gaza, including in an interview in which he opposed Israeli bombing, have been welcomed by French leftist politicians but rebuked by <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/benjamin-netanyahu/" target="_blank">Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu</a>. Protests against anti-Semitism also took place in other French cities on Sunday, including in Marseille where about 7,000 people turned out, according to a police estimate. Elsewhere in <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/europe" target="_blank">Europe</a>, concern is running high over anti-Semitism and other forms of extremism. In Britain, a large pro-<a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/palestine" target="_blank">Palestinian</a> demonstration on Saturday was marked by skirmishes between far-right counter-protesters and the police.
