Protesters slam war profiteering at French air fair
PARIS
Thousands marched on June 21 outside the Paris Air Show, calling for an end to war profiteering and Israel's offensive in Gaza in the latest demonstration to hit the event.
The presence of Israeli defense firms at the show has already become a bone of contention, with the French government on June 16 sealing off the booths of five Israeli firms on the grounds that they were displaying offensive weapons that could be used in Gaza.
"Their wars, their profits, our deaths, stop the genocide in Palestine," read the banner at the head of the march, which organisers claimed drew more than 4,000 protesters.
"As we speak, people are dying and our governments are not doing anything to stop it," Nora, 29, told AFP at the protest.
Police have arrested seven people aiming to disrupt the trade fair, the Paris public prosecutor office said, with officers discovering a helium canister and nearly 200 balloons during the searches.
Six of the arrests were made on June 20 and the other on June 21, the prosecutor's office added.
Drawing some 100,000 visitors a day, the Paris Air Show at the Le Bourget airfield, 9 kilometers to the north of the capital, is usually dominated by displays of the aerospace industry's latest cutting-edge planes.
But the shuttering of the stands of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Rafael, UVision and Elbit, as well as Aeronautics, which make drones and guided bombs and missiles, sparked a row with Israel.
Israel's President Isaac Herzog branded Paris's closure of the Israeli firms' booths "outrageous", comparing it to "creating an Israeli ghetto."
