French police detain woman for poster deemed antisemitic at COVID protest
Cassandre Fristot held up a brown cardboard poster at the rally Saturday in Metz condemning President Emmanuel Macron and several well-known Jewish people as “traitors.”
Police in France detained a woman for carrying a sign widely deemed antisemitic at a demonstration against COVID-19 emergency measures.
Cassandre Fristot, an activist for the far-right National Rally party, held up a brown cardboard poster at the rally Saturday in Metz condemning President Emmanuel Macron and several well-known Jewish people as “traitors.” Fristot, who lost her 2012 bid for a local council on the National Rally ticket, is suspected of inciting hatred of Jews, Le Monde reported Monday.
The poster also featured the question “but who?” with one of the letters decorated with devil’s horns. It listed as traitors several politicians and businesspeople who are Jewish or have Jewish roots, including former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius, former Health Minister Agnès Buzyn, government spokesperson Gabriel Attal, George Soros and philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.
The rally was protesting the introduction of a COVID vaccine pass to be used at many public spaces as a requisite for admission.
Antisemitic rhetoric at protests concerning the pandemic has been commonplace, but the picture of Fristot, with the French flag in the background, went viral on social media and elicited strong-worded condemnations from France’s top politicians.
“This poster is reprehensible,” Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin wrote on Twitter. “Antisemitism is a criminal offense, not an opinion and such expressions will not remain unpunished.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
