A man protesting the Israeli team’s participation in the Tour de France was unceremoniously ejected from the race area by an alert, no-nonsense security guard.
Just under 100 feet from the finish line, a man waving a keffiyah and wearing a T-shirt demanding Israel end its war in Gaza ran out onto the track very close to where Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen was making his move to get past Switzerland’s Mauro Schmid to win the 11th stage of the race.
The guard blocked the man, shoved him up against the wall separating the crowd from the course, and then grabbed the protester’s legs and flipped him over the wall.
The protester’s shirt read, “Israel Out of the Tour.”
Ironically, the Israeli Premier Tech Team, the group the man was protesting, is registered in Israel but doesn’t have any Israeli competitors in the race, according to the New York Post.
The protest comes after a call for “peaceful” disruption of the Israeli-registered cycling team earlier this year by the anti-Israel group Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions.
“We call for more peaceful protests than ever along the routes of cycling races where Team Genocide is participating, including the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España,” the organization wrote. “Let’s make sure the road is closed to genocide perpetrators.”
With the conclusion of the 11th stage of the race, the Tour de France has 10 remaining stages and will finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on July 27.
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