Police in the centre of Paris used tear gas and water cannon to break up a pro-Palestinian rally, after the French government banned such demonstrations.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said those defying it should be arrested as “they are susceptible to disrupt public order.”
Despite the ban, thousands of protesters gathered in Paris, Lille, Bordeaux and other cities on Thursday.
President Emmanuel Macron appealed to people not to foment internal division.
“The shield of unity will protect us from hatred and excesses,” he said in a video address.
The ban on pro-Palestinian rallies comes as European governments fear a rise in antisemitism triggered by the Israel-Hamas war.
Hours later, police made 10 arrests and used water cannon to disperse a 3,000-strong rally at Paris’s Place de la République, where demonstrators chanted “Israel murderer” and “Palestine will win” and waved Palestinian flags. 10 people were also arrested at another rally in Lille.
Pro-Palestinian groups said the ban risked threatening freedom of expression and pledged to continue demonstrating in support of the Palestinian people.
Charlotte Vautier, who attended the rally, told Reuters: “We live in a country of civil law, a country where we have the right to take a stand and to demonstrate.
“It is unfair to forbid for one side and to authorize for the other.”
Meanwhile, police in Germany’s capital Berlin also banned planned pro-Palestinian demonstrations, citing the risk of antisemitic statements and glorification of violence.
Police said around 60 demonstrators complied with an order to leave Potsdamer Platz on Thursday.
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