Pro-Palestinian activists have blockaded the entrance to the ILA Berlin Air Show, a major aviation conference in the German capital, hours before Chancellor Friedrich Merz was due to give a speech.<\/p>\n
The biennial International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) opens on Wednesday on the grounds of Berlin’s international airport, with around 750 exhibitors expected from 37 countries.<\/p>\n
The ILA showcases new products and innovations from the aviation, aerospace and defence sectors, with drones and the recent collapse of a Franco-German fighter jet project likely to be key points of discussion at this year’s event.<\/p>\n
Preparations were disrupted early on Wednesday by a group called “Peacefully against Genocide,” with activists blocking access to the site of the conference with a sit-down protest.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Instagram, the group said “protesters are opposing the cooperation between exhibiting companies and the Israeli regime.”<\/p>\n
“The focus on the criticism is on the presence of Rheinmetall and the Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems,” the statement continued, referring to a major German arms manufacturer.<\/p>\n
“Both companies are closely involved in the ongoing genocide in Palestine and are presenting combat drones and air defence systems in Berlin today.”<\/p>\n
The German and Israeli governments have consistently rejected the claim that Israel has carried out a genocide in Gaza. The International Court of Justice in The Hague is hearing a case brought by South Africa on the issue.<\/p>\n
Amid the protest, organizers advised visitors to walk to the site from a nearby train station.<\/p>\n
The ILA fair is closed to the public until the weekend. The programme also includes a number of political forums and flight demonstrations featuring military and civil aircraft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pro-Palestinian activists have blockaded the entrance to the ILA Berlin Air Show, a major aviation conference in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[99],"tags":[53312,112,53313,53310,235,9001,190,53311],"class_list":["post-104496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-berlin","tag-aviation-conference","tag-berlin","tag-berlin-air-show","tag-berlin-expocenter-airport","tag-friedrich-merz","tag-german-capital","tag-germany","tag-international-aerospace-exhibition"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116725485841163370","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}