PARIS

Several thousand demonstrated Saturday in Paris to demand an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

Protesters began from the Place de la Republique and marched to the Place de la Nation.

Demonstrators wore Keffiyehs, the black and white scarf symbol of the Palestinian cause, and held Palestinian flags.

Slogans demanded an “immediate cease-fire”, “free Palestine”, “Macron complicit” and “Palestine will live and win.”

President Emmanuel Macron told the BBC Friday that Israel must stop bombing Gaza and killing civilians, considering that there is “no legitimacy” for the bombing.

It may be a turning point in French politics toward the war in Gaza that was applauded by French citizens and political figures.

“Macron finally uttered the word ‘cease-fire’ but France must speak with a stronger voice, especially in the UN Security Council in which it is a permanent member,” said Mathilde Panot, an MP for La France Insoumise (LFI).

“France must apply as much pressure possible on Netanyahu’s far-right government in order to stop war crimes,” she said.

“We want these massacres to stop immediately and that we finally reopen a peace process -- the only one capable of guaranteeing both the peace and security of the Israeli people and the Palestinian people,” she told journalists.

The President of the France Palestine Solidarity Association, Bertrand Heilbronn, seemed less convinced by Macron’s statements and criticized a humanitarian conference in Paris that was held Thursday.

“We raise a billion, but what will be used for? To whom under the bombs? No help can be provided as people continue to die of hunger, thirst and bombs,” he said. “France still has multiple relations, including military ones, with Israel. They must be cut immediately and the ambassadors must be recalled.”

Jerome Legavre, an MP for LFI tried to stay optimistic about the government's new position on the war while stressing at the same time, the necessity for concrete action.

“What we need now, quickly and as soon as possible, to connect Macron's speeches with his actions,” he said.

Several left-wing movements, a collective of NGOs and the La France Insoumise political party organized the march.​​​​​​​

A march Sunday against anti-Semitism will take place in a tense atmosphere as the police prefecture is going to set up a huge security system.

More than 3,000 officers will be mobilized, according to Interior Minister Gerarld Darmanin.

Five weeks after the start of the war triggered by Hamas on Oct. 7, about 1,200 were killed in Israel.

More than 11,000 have been killed in the Gaza Strip, mainly civilians, including 4,506 children, according to figures from both governments.