Paris – Paris on Thursday deployed hundreds of extra police to protect an urban beach event honoring Tel Aviv, after it turned from a summertime celebration into a geopolitical hot potato.
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Leftist politicians and pro-Palestinian activists wanted it canceled amid anger over a Jewish extremist attack in the West Bank. But Paris city hall stood firm.
City authorities said extra police were deployed for the one-day event on the banks of the Seine River. It’s part of a larger summer event called Paris Plages that transforms quayside city streets into beaches.
Eytan Schwartz, an official from the Tel Aviv city hall who attended the event, expressed satisfaction that Paris authorities withstood pressure to cancel the event.
“We are very happy that the city of Paris, when this controversy erupted, was very clear that they would not give in to extremists or radicals of any sort,” Schwartz said.
Opponents put together a rival “Gaza Plage” event on the other side of a bridge overpass Thursday, complete with Palestinian flags.
Olivia Zemor, the head of a pro-Palestinian association, said the rival event was organized “to explain to the people — in a peaceful way with our banners, leaflets, photos — the real face of occupation, what the Palestinians who are walled up are going through.”
Paris remains on alert after Islamic extremist attacks in January. Unrest in the Mideast sometimes translates into tensions in France, home to large Muslim and Jewish populations.Paris on Thursday deployed hundreds of extra police to protect an urban beach event honoring Tel Aviv, after it turned from a summertime celebration into a geopolitical hot potato.
Leftist politicians and pro-Palestinian activists wanted it canceled amid anger over a Jewish extremist attack in the West Bank. But Paris city hall stood firm.
City authorities said extra police were deployed for the one-day event on the banks of the Seine River. It’s part of a larger summer event called Paris Plages that transforms quayside city streets into beaches.
Eytan Schwartz, an official from the Tel Aviv city hall who attended the event, expressed satisfaction that Paris authorities withstood pressure to cancel the event.
“We are very happy that the city of Paris, when this controversy erupted, was very clear that they would not give in to extremists or radicals of any sort,” Schwartz said.
Opponents put together a rival “Gaza Plage” event on the other side of a bridge overpass Thursday, complete with Palestinian flags.
Olivia Zemor, the head of a pro-Palestinian association, said the rival event was organized “to explain to the people — in a peaceful way with our banners, leaflets, photos — the real face of occupation, what the Palestinians who are walled up are going through.”
Paris remains on alert after Islamic extremist attacks in January. Unrest in the Mideast sometimes translates into tensions in France, home to large Muslim and Jewish populations.
cant wait till Notre Dame becomes a mosque.