HOLDING olive branches and white banners, French performers from different religious and ethnic backgrounds led thousands of people on a silent march through central Paris on Sunday to call for peace between Israelis and Palestinians and unity in France.

The crowd, which included actors Isabelle Adjani and Emmanuelle Beart as well as singers and other cultural figures, marched from the Arab World Institute toward the Museum of Art and History of Judaism, located across the River Seine.

“We have a blue sky on top of our head today and in Israel, in Palestine, they’re having bombs, they’re having war. We’re not helping the situation by choosing sides or throwing hate on one side or another,” Nadia Fares said.

The silence at Sunday’s march “will balance, hopefully, the cacophony we have all over the world,” she said.

France, home to significant Jewish and Muslim populations, has seen weeks of protests and tensions over the Israel-Gaza war.

On Saturday, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters rallied in Paris to call for a ceasefire.

Survivors of Nazi atrocities during World War II also joined young Jewish activists outside the Paris Holocaust memorial to sound the alarm about resurgent anti-semitism which has spiked since the Israeli retaliation to the Hamas uprising on October 7.