FRANCE: Tens Of Thousands Attend Anti-Gay Marriage Protest In Paris
Chanting "We don't want your law, Hollande!", some 50,000 protesters massed behind a banner reading: "All born of a Mum and a Dad" and said it was undemocratic to bring about such a fundamental social change without holding a referendum. Hastily organized after the law's passage was sped up to circumvent a big rally set for late April, Sunday's march capped months of protests by a dogged opposition movement that has sullied President Francois Hollande's flagship social reform. "We warned the president back in November that we would not give up and that we would do everything to stop this law being passed, or to get it repealed if it is adopted," one of the protest organizers, Alberic Dumon, told Reuters.
As their movement grows increasingly violent due to infiltration by extremist right-wing groups, Manif Pour Tous leader Frigide Barjot this morning called for a calm protest.
"We want a peaceful demonstration and we reject all groups that directly target homosexual people," said Frigide Barjot, spokesperson for the "Manif pour Tous" group. She said she had called on "professional security services" to help out, adding that any excesses would be reported to specially designated people along the way, who would in turn report them to police.VIDEO: Last night Manif Pour Tous posted the below clip to promote today's protest.
And even before the start of the protest, one man carrying six canisters of teargas spotted by organisers was detained by police. Tension over the imminent adoption of the law, which is going through a second reading in the lower house after already being approved in the French parliament's upper and lower houses, reached breaking point last week. In Paris, opponents marched for three nights in a row from Wednesday to Friday, and a hard-core of activists, some wearing masks, clashed with police, who made more than 100 arrests during the week.
Labels: bigotry, France, hate groups, Manif Pour Tous, marriage equality, protests, religion
