10 Jul 2011

Paris 'flytilla' activists grounded

Nearly 100 French activists en route to Israel have been stopped from boarding their flights by French authorities in Paris. Stranded at Charles De Gaulle Airport, the activists have staged a protest denouncing the French authorities' action.

"They have staged a noisy protests at the airport, shouting 'Collaborators, collaborators!' to condemn the French authorities for their action," our correspondent said on Friday.

welcome to palestine

The Welcome to Palestine campaign planned to send an estimated 600 people to the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Around half of the activists involved are reportedly French nationals.

Al Jazeera's Cal Perry, reporting from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion international airport, said: "Across airports in Europe, we understand that a blacklist of passengers has been released. The Israelis are asking airlines to stop people from boarding planes. But the Israelis are saying those people will be deported anyway." Following the warnings, airlines had "already refused to take on board around 200 of these passengers", Sabine Hadad, an Israeli immigration spokeswoman, told the AFP news agency.

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