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| - The organisers of a banned pro-Palestinian demonstration in Paris said Friday that they had petitioned a court hoping to force police to allow the protest after all. Police on Thursday complied with a request from France's interior minister to ban Saturday's demonstration called over the ongoing conflict with Israel, fearing a repeat of clashes during a similar protest in 2014. But on Friday, lawyers for the Paris region's Association of Palestinians told AFP they had lodged a petition for the protection of civil liberties with France's administrative court. The lawyers said they hoped for a decision later Friday. "France is the only democracy to ban such a demonstration," said Sefen Guez Guez, one of the lawyers, calling the decision "disproportionate" and "politically motivated". Paris police chief Didier Lallement said earlier that there was a risk of "a serious disturbance of public order" if the demonstration went ahead, and he also feared "acts against synagogues and Israeli interests". Lallement also cited the pro-Palestinian demonstrations in July 2014 denouncing an Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, which ended in violence, in his justification of the ban. Guez Guez responded that there had been "plenty of demonstrations defending the Palestinian cause since 2014 at which there was no problem at all". Apart from protesting against Israel itself at Saturday's demonstration, organisers have also targeted the French government, which they say is too favourable towards Israel. The ban has caused a split among French politicians, with President Emmanuel Macron's centre-right party and the right-wing opposition supporting the move, but leftists calling it an unacceptable attack on freedom of expression. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Thursday told police chiefs elsewhere in France to keep a close eye on planned demonstration and also ban them if necessary, and to bolster police protection of the Jewish community in France. More Jews live in France than anywhere else in Europe. Worldwide, only Israel itself and the United States have bigger Jewish populations. Israel bombarded Gaza with artillery and air strikes on Friday following a new barrage of rocket fire from the Hamas-run enclave, intensifying a conflict that has now claimed 127 lives. The escalating violence was sparked by clashes in East Jerusalem over a long running legal case in which a number of Palestinians could be evicted from their homes in favour of Jewish settlers. burs/jh/js
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