The darling of France’s center-left, Raphaël Glucksmann, got a frosty reception at Wednesday’s May Day demonstrations.
Glucksmann — the lead candidate of the French Socialists for the June EU election — was forced to leave soon after arriving at a march in Saint-Etienne, near Lyon, Le Monde reported, after protesters began hurling insults at him.
Demonstrators — some waving Palestinian flags — exhorted Glucksmann to leave the protest, shouting “Palestine will live,” with some throwing paint at the MEP, according to a video posted on X by local media France Bleu. An exchange with activists planned for after the parade was canceled.
“These attacks are the result of months of hatred and slander cleverly orchestrated by [La France Insoumise] and others,” Glucksmann wrote on X after the incident.
Far-left party La France Insoumise and the Communist Party have both accused Israel of carrying out genocide in Gaza; Glucksmann has refused to use the term genocide, and has called support for Palestine “a point of view.”
Speaking after the attack, Glucksmann described those who had harassed him as anti-democratic, adding that he saw no problem in condemning Hamas while “fighting for the carnage in Gaza to stop.”
Following the incident, LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said he didn’t agree with Glucksmann’s expulsion from the protest, but added that the actions of the Socialist leader had antagonized LFI supporters. He also called on Glucksmann to apologize for accusing LFI activists for having expelled him from the march.
Earlier this month, LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard said Glucksmann was shedding “2,000 followers a week due to Gaza on Instagram,” adding that he was gradually losing the youth segment he had captured on the Uighur issue “by refusing to talk about genocide [in Gaza].”
Some 200,000 demonstrators showed up on the streets of French cities on Wednesday, according to Sophie Binet, general secretary of French labor union federation CGT.
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