Emmanuel Macron to meet France’s religious leaders after calls for national unity

French President Emmanuel Macron will meet with representatives of different religions at the Elysée Palace on Monday morning, in the wake of demonstrations against anti-Semitism and after he launched an appeal for national unity. 

“Following on from the appeal for national unity and fraternity that he launched in his letter to the French people, the President of the Republic will receive representatives of religious denominations today (Monday),” the palace said in a statement. 

There is no information yet about who exactly would be taking part in the meeting. 

On Sunday, more than 100,000 people took part in a rally against antisemitism, with another 80,000 people joining rallies around the country. 

It was a show of solidarity against antisemitism in the face of a rise in the number of hostile acts against Jewish people in France since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on 7 October. 

In a letter published on Saturday evening by the newspaper Le Parisien, Emmanuel Macron deplored the “unbearable resurgence of unbridled anti-Semitism” and said that “a France where our Jewish fellow citizens are afraid is not France”.

He added: “France must remain united behind its values, its universalism, united for itself, to carry forward its project and work for peace and security for all in the Middle East”.