Activism and BDS Beat 26 December 2011
Christmas Eve protest outside flagship Lacoste store on Champs Elysées in Paris
Palestine solidarity activists staged protests on Christmas Eve at Lacoste clothing stores in several French cities to protest the censorship and expulsion of Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour from a prestigious art competition sponsored by the French luxury clothing firm.
The scandal led last week to the cancelation of the 2011 Lacoste Elysée Prize by the Musée de L’Elysée in Lausanne, Switzerland.
At actions in Paris, Lyon, Lille and Bordeaux, activists picketed stores, handed out flyers and told Christmas shoppers about Lacoste’s censorship, calling on them to boycott the company. Protestors held signs and prints of Sansour’s censored work and called out slogans condemning Lacoste’s “racism” against Palestinians.
The protests against Lacoste come just days after 12 French activists were acquitted of “inciting hate and discrimination” by a French court for having staged protests at Carrefour supermarkets calling on shoppers to boycott Israeli goods.
The photos and images were first posted by the activist grouping CAPJPO-EuroPalestine.
Protest at two Lacoste stores in the city of LyonProtestors speak with managers and shoppers inside a Lacoste store.
Protest at flagship Lacoste store on the Champs Elysées in Paris
Protestors in Bordeaux carry reproductions of Larissa Sansour’s work that was excluded from the competition after pressure from Lacoste.
