The antisemitic sign held aloft by French far right activist Cassandre Fristot at a vaccine refusal demonstration in Metz. Photo: Screenshot via social media.

Three labor unions representing school teachers in France have roundly condemned repeated displays of antisemitic propaganda at demonstrations organized by opponents of the government’s “health pass” policy, which requires most citizens to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine in order to enter public places or go to work.

In a statement released over the weekend, three education unions in the Haut-Loire region of south-central France highlighted “the return of the ‘Filthy Beast'” at weekly demonstrations against the pass in the center of Le-Puy-en-Velay, the regional capital.

“For several weeks now, a handful of ultra-right activists have been instrumental in using the Saturday demonstrations against the health pass to display signs with hate messages with impunity,” the statement said.

It noted the presence of placards bearing slogans insinuating that the ongoing pandemic and the mass vaccination effort are part of a sinister Jewish plot. Signs on display have included “Je suis Cassandre” (“I am Cassandre”), declaring solidarity with Cassandre Fristot, an antisemitic activist and former far-right parliamentary candidate; “Non a la manipula-Sion” (“No to manipulation”), which underlines the French word for “Zion” (“Sion”); and “En marche vers le chaos mondial” (“Forward to global chaos”), a slogan associated with the convicted Holocaust denier and far-right agitator Alain Soral.

“Words and acts that target French people of Jewish faith, culture or tradition or attack their existence, their memory or their identity, hurt the whole of France,” the statement continued. “Antisemitism is a crime condemned by law. It should be neither excused nor trivialized.”

The three unions — CGT Education 43, FSU 43 and SUD Education 43 — ended with a call on their fellow Altiligériens, as residents of the Haute-Loire are known, “to stand up in the face of the return of the ‘Filthy Beast’  and of any form of racism.”