MFGA:

In Paris, an array of insults, some anti-Semitic, by a handful of yellow vest protesters targeted a well-known French philosopher, Alain Finkelkraut, underscoring excesses that surge within an increasingly divided movement with radical fringes.

President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that "the anti-Semitic injuries he received are the absolute negation of what we are and of what makes us a great nation."

The president's was among a chorus of tweets, with Interior Minister Christophe Castaner denouncing "the surge of pure hate," while government spokesman Benjamin Griveau tweeted that "the ugly beast lurks in the anonymity of the crowd."

The insults included words like "Zionist!" and "Go back to Tel Aviv!" and "We are France!" Finkelkraut once showed sympathy for the movement but criticized it in a recent interview with Le Figaro daily. Some yellow vest protesters have expressed racist or anti-Semitic views online and on the sidelines of protests.

"I felt an absolute hate," Finkelkraut told the Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche. He expressed relief that police intervened.

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