Pro-Palestinian march in Paris ahead of Netanyahu visit

• Erdogan, Macron agree to press US president to reverse his decision

• N. Korea condemns ‘mentally deranged dotard’ Trump over Jerusalem

PARIS: Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists on Saturday staged a protest in Paris against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned visit to France on Sunday.

Protestors carried Palestinian flags and photos of French President Emmanuel Macron marked “accomplice” for hosting Netanyahu following the US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Netanyahu, who has welcomed Trump’s move, will meet with Macron on Sunday ahead of a meeting with European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.

France said on Friday the United States had sidelined itself in the Middle East by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on French TV that the U.S. move went “against international law”.

“Trump says he has a project. Let him present it, so that this intervention can be wiped out by the restart of the peace process,” he said.

Macron and Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan will work together to try to persuade the United States to reconsider the decision, a Turkish presidential source said on Saturday.

Quoting a Turkish presidential source, the news agency said the two leaders discussed the issue during a phone call, agreeing the move was a cause of concern in the region.

France has been a supporter of the Palestinian cause. In 2014, the French National Assembly passed a non-binding motion calling on the government to recognize Palestine, but the government has not officially done so.

North Korea also lambasted Trump for recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, renewing its description of him as a “dotard” in a statement released on state media.

“Considering the fact that the mentally deranged dotard openly called for a total destruction of a sovereign state at the UN, this action is not so surprising”, a foreign ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the state-run KCNA news agency.

“But this move clearly shows to the whole world who is the destroyer of world peace and security, pariah and rogue in the international community,” he said, using epithets usually reserved for the North.

PALESTINIANS CONTINUE TO PROTEST:

The “Day of Rage” protests have continued across the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip over the US decision.

At least three Palestinians were arrested when Israeli forces attempted to disperse a crowd of at least 100 peaceful protestors in East Jerusalem’s Salah Eddin Street.

Among those arrested were Palestinian Legislative Council member Jihad Abu Zneid.

Israeli forces fired stun grenades, tear gas and charged through the crowd on horses, pushing and beating journalists and demonstrators at the scene.

Israeli forces closed down most shops on Salah Eddin, and confiscated Palestinian flags from protesters.

A 30-year-old Palestinian man was killed by Israeli fire during protests in Gaza on Friday, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported, citing the Palestinian health ministry.

PROTESTS CONTINUE AGAINST US IN TURKEY:

Thousands of Turkish citizens continued to take to the streets on Saturday against the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The demonstrations came ahead of a huge demonstration scheduled to take place in Istanbul’s Yenikapi Square on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. local time.

On Friday and Saturday, people across Turkey gathered outside the central mosques and chanted anti-Israel and pro-Palestine slogans.

In the country’s most populous city of Istanbul, a platform, established to support the Jerusalem cause, protested outside Sultanahmet mosque after morning prayers.

Holding Palestinian flags and chanting “Turkey Stands for Palestine”, a large number of people marched from Narmanli Mosque towards Havuzbasi City Square in eastern Erzurum province.

Earlier on Friday, hundreds of Muslims attended on Friday prayers in front of the White House to protest President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Responding to the call of American Muslim organisations, worshippers laid out their prayer mats at a park in front of the president’s residence.

Wearing traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarves or the colours of the Palestinian flag, protesters also held placards denouncing Israeli occupation of Jerusalem and the West Bank.