2023-11-11 14:15:54
The Élysée confirmed Friday evening that Emmanuel Macron will not attend the march against anti-Semitism organized on Sunday in Paris. This Saturday, the president affirmed that he would be “in heart and in thought” at the demonstration, denouncing “a lot of confusion” and “recovery” on this subject.
“My role is rather to build the unity of the country and to be firm on values”, to “make decisions, to say words when they need to be said and to act, otherwise I can demonstrate every week” , declared the president on the sidelines of the commemorations in Paris of the 105th anniversary of the Armistice of 1918.
“I will be in heart and in thought” at this march which aims to “build the unity of the country”, he added after laying a wreath at the foot of the statue of Georges Clémenceau, defender of the Jewish captain Alfred Dreyfus and “father of victory” of the First World War in 1918.
“On anti-Semitism, it is very simple, we will not concede anything and nothing justifies it,” he stressed, defending a “universalist” approach to anti-Semitism, seeing “a lot of confusion” on the march organized on Sunday by the presidents of the two Houses of Parliament, and “a lot of recovery too”.
He was referring to the absence of rebellious France at this gathering, where on the other hand the National Rally will be present, which caused embarrassment on the left and in the majority.
The absence of the President of the Republic from the march against anti-Semitism is a mistake.
This fight must go beyond the permanent “at the same time”!
— Eric Ciotti (@ECiotti) November 11, 2023
The president of the Republicans Éric Ciotti denounced on X (formerly Twitter) “a mistake”, tackling “a fight which must go beyond the at the same time permanent”.
Macron is right. This so-called march against anti-Semitism at the call of Meyer Habib, Le Pen, Zemmour, Braun-Pivet and Larcher functions as a manipulation. Like him and me, don’t let yourself be fooled. Let us have confidence in our people. In France the racists will not have…
— Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) November 10, 2023
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, for his part, gave the head of state “right”. “Like him and me, don’t get fooled. Let us have confidence in our people. In France, the racists will never have the last word,” said the Insoumis leader.
“Duty of unity”
This Saturday, the President of the Republic chaired the ceremony commemorating the 105th anniversary of the Armistice of 1918, marked this year by the centenary of the flame rekindled every day under the Arc de Triomphe in memory of the fighters who fell for France.
In front of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where the flame has been rekindled every day since 1923, the Head of State greeted “the unknown” who is “from all horizons”, from “all professions”, and from “all beliefs, believer and Freemason, agnostic and free-thinker, Protestant and Muslim, Catholic and Jew.”
“The unknown is this Resistance, this certain idea of France that we cherish. And by falling for her, he raised her and bequeathed her to us with a duty of unity, of surpassing herself and of bravery,” he added.
To celebrate this centenary, a sound and light show on the Arc de Triomphe will also be organized on Saturday at 6:30 p.m., in the presence of hundreds of flag bearers.
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