Emmanuel Macron has condemned antisemitic attacks during France's “yellow vest" protests after a Jewish philosopher was abused in central Paris on Saturday.
The French president was responding to videos showing protesters shouting “dirty Zionist”, “we are the people” and “France is ours” at Alain Finkielkraut on Saturday, the 14th weekend of protests since they began last November.
Mr Macron tweeted: “The antisemitic insults he has been subjected to are the absolute negation of what we are and what makes us a great nation. We will not tolerate it.”
Les injures antisémites dont il a fait l’objet sont la négation absolue de ce que nous sommes et de ce qui fait de nous une grande nation. Nous ne les tolèrerons pas.https://t.co/WSUTuJmQWX
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) February 16, 2019
He added: “The son of Polish immigrants who became a French academician, Alain Finkielkraut is not only a prominent man of letters but the symbol of what the Republic allows everyone.”
Mr Finkielkraut told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper that he felt an “absolute hate” directed at him, adding that it was not the first time.
“I would have been afraid if there had not been the police, fortunately they were there.”
Video broadcast by Yahoo! News showed Mr Finkielkraut crossing a street as protesters wearing yellow vests appear to hurl abuse at him.
Mr Finkielkraut, 69, the son of a Polish Jew who survived Auschwitz, has written multiple books and essays on identity violence, including on Jews and antisemitism.
