‘Limit Israel’s participation in Paris Games’

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PARIS, April 30,(AP): Several hundred pro-Palestinian protesters gathered near the Paris Olympics organizers’ headquarters on Tuesday and called for limiting Israel’s participation at the Summer Games in the French capital.

About 300 people attended the rally at the headquarters of the Paris Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the suburb of Saint-Denis, waving Palestinian flags and chanting slogans against Israel’s “institutional participation” in the Games because of the war in Gaza.

Citing the example of Russian athletes, who will be competing at the Olympics under a neutral flag and with no Russian government officials allowed at the Games, protesters said the International Olympic Committee should apply the same protocol for the Israelis.

“They didn’t need more than four days to decide to ban Russia and Belorussia from the Olympics after the invasion of Ukraine,” said Nicolas Shahshahani, a member of the EuroPalestine activist group, who took part in Tuesday’s protest. “They are prepared to welcome the Israeli delegation.”

In an interview earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron backed the IOC’s decision to allow Russian athletes to compete in the Olympics despite the Ukraine invasion, but under a neutral flag.

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