French Riviera beach closed for Saudi king - 100,000 French people sign protest petition

[Surya Gayatri]

The construction of a temporary lift has been allowed on the beach

More than 100,000 people have signed a petition against the closure of a beach on the French Riviera to allow Saudi King Salman to holiday in private.

The petition insists the public beach in Vallauris should be "available for the benefit of all".

Authorities sealed off the beach early on Saturday to prevent any protesters from occupying it as King Salman was due to arrive in the area.

The Saudi monarch is expected to stay at his villa for three weeks.

He and his entourage of about 1,000 people arrived at Nice airport on Saturday on board two Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747s.


Notices of the beach closure have been posted, amid tight security for the royal visitor

However, the closure of a section of La Mirandole beach beneath the king's villa has outraged many local residents.

"We recall that this natural zone, like all maritime public estates, is an intrinsic public property that should be available for the benefit of all, residents, tourists, French, foreigners or people passing through," the petition says.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33667046

_______________________

And the hypocritical, hubristic House of Saud scores another PR triumph.

These vile nouveau riche poseurs, lacking in the least hint of class or humanity, make me and a lot of other French people want to storm their security perimeter and run them all off with pitchforks.

[murielm99]

1. Do they close the beach for any other

visiting or vacationing heads of state? What will they say if there is no precedent for this?

[Surya Gayatri]

2. First I've ever heard of it. Even French prime ministers and presidents aren't given such latitude.

Of course, there's a security cordon around their properties, but I've never heard of nearby PUBLIC beaches being closed.

Saudi petro-dollars talk big. If you go to the link which I'm editing to add, Riviera hoteliers and restaurateurs are already counting their proceeds.

[LuvNewcastle]

3. That is bullshit.

If he wants a beach to himself, there are plenty of places in the world that have houses with private beaches. It really sickens me to see how many corrupt officials we have in our supposed democracies that allow this shit. There should be an investigation into this, and the people who allowed it need to be nailed to the wall.

[Surya Gayatri]

4. The French have a sharp sense of fairness and justice. This infringement on their beloved

Mediterranean 'commons', especially at the height of the holiday season, will not go down well.

"If he wants a beach to himself, there are plenty of places in the world that have houses with private beaches."

Exactly!

[Divernan]

5. Vacations w/ entourage of 1,000 go-fers. Other 1%ers pea green w/ envy!

He and his entourage of about 1,000 people arrived at Nice airport on Saturday on board two Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747s.

[underahedgerow]

6. Please. The usual ferfuffle about nearly nothing. Can you see this 'beach'? It's a few meters

long, borders a cement wall and is hardly the elegant plage that the French frequent. In fact, it's considered a 'nude' beach because it's rather isolated to begin with.

The guy will have to return it to its original condition and even include some improvements, so in the end of three weeks, far more will benefit than have been deprived of .... something.

There are 50 kilometers of beach in the area. Hardly a nuisance to anyone at all. But the French do love to protest something, anything, anytime, anywhere. It's a way of life.

[GermanWatcher]

7. Way of life?

That´s one way to look at it. Matter of principle would be my take.

[underahedgerow]

13. Yes, protests are a way of life, the French, bless 'em, will cheerfully hold a 'greve' over pretty

much anything. They're really creative too! Last week some farmers dropped a load of live pigs inside a supermarket to wander around!

You should have seen the protests over the French passage of gay marriage rights several years ago! Barely a day goes by where there isn't a protest somewhere.

Currently the massive weeks long traffic problems at Calais, the port to the UK for cars, trucks and trains, are being created by protesters. The union guys are protesting the sale of the ferry company that they used to work for. As of 1 July Ferrylink terminated all business, but they're still protesting and causing traffic jams.

So, the guys protesting the termination of Ferrylink services are protesting over a company that no longer exists and they'll never get their jobs back. But they're still burning tires and causing serious problems for TWO countries!

For 100,000 French people to sign a petition about an ailing King closing a tiny, nearly inaccessible beach for 3 weeks in exchange for improvements to the beach is just very French. They would rather sign a petition and go for a walk with their friends (that's protesting) rather than participate actively in government and legislation.

Considering the average number of visitors to the beach is about 50 per day at most, with it being local repeat nudists spot just speaks to their way of life. I'll bet a million bucks that 90% of the people signing that petition haven't ever visited the South of France.

In fact, I'll bet that his entourage of 1000 people, which are mostly relatives, will bring far more revenue to the city (and it's the dodgy end of the beach) than the beach has ever generated in it's entire developed history.

The King is very ill, he's had a stroke, hence the need for an elevator. It's a temporary installation, I don't see the big deal.

Viva la France.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

18. Way to insult an entire national origin

Are you going to address Mexicans next? You sarcasm (Vive La France) is ugly. You don't just hurl your insults against certain people who take certain actions but you slam the entire French nation and culture. You're using pretty bigoted thinking there and I don't think such general attacks belong on this website. You're even attacking people who go on strike, very often for good reasons.

[underahedgerow]

20. Eh, no, I didn't insult anyone.

I just stated the facts.

One of my ancestors was beheaded for attempting to assassinate Napolean Bonaparte. I just keep trying to make up for that I suppose.

Cheers!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

21. Facts? That every French person is a frivolous protester?

Not facts. Stereotype. I thought we were beyond stereotypes here. What's next? All Mexicans are violent? All Irishmen are drunks? All Poles are crude?

[underahedgerow]

22. My family has a house in Paris that is just across the street from the Assemble Nationale, it's

like Congress in DC, where all the politicians do their politics things, but it's a small street, just 2 lanes and cobble stones, very charming and historic. Right up the street from Julia Child's Paris residence actually.

It's just adjacent to Invalides where the protesting groups du jour are specifically sanctioned to gather for their events.

They routinely close off my street so that protesting groups wouldn't have access to the gates of the Assemble Nationale, which is directly across from my front door. In order to go down my street I'd have to show my ID and business card to show I lived there.

So literally several times a week, my street would be blocked off by SWAT team guys in their riot gear (sharp-shooters on my roof now and then) cops and military kitted out in SWAT gear, the riot police, military and police vans lined up outside my door, riot barricades, you know, the big plastic shields? Serious stuff.

Eventually as time passed, I could go to any of the 3 blockades nearest to my home and they'd just open the barrier for me. Hundreds of personnel, knowing who little old me was, simply due to the frequency of the protests of the general population.

There's even a website for strikes.... http://www.cestlagreve.fr/calendrier/

And BTW, I really love Mexico, Mexicans (the Yucatan, Campeche and Valladolid especially) and Irish people and Ireland. I know people from everywhere on this planet, the more I meet and can share experiences with, the better. Most people say things like 'Oh Mexico is so scary with all the drug dealers!'. Well are they stereotyping? And if I'm not in agreement with them, what am I doing? In fact I think Mexicans should be granted the same rights to live and work in the USA as the Native Americans have with Canada under the Jay Treaty.

There is stereotyping and there is stereotyping. Some people do it with ignorance and malice for insult and and normally out of fear. If I make a general observation it's because I've been there, done that, met them, lived there, traveled there and/or had genuine experience with the given situation. Please don't try to pick a fight with me. Life is too short and wonderful and I'm a really nice person, even if I have strong, usually well informed opinions.

[Fred Sanders]

19. Nonsense. Beyond worthy of a reply, but maybe worthy of something else.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. The Sauid King is a selfish, bigoted man, the French are correct to expect that

such a nasty dictator be held to the laws of France if he wishes to vacation there, if he want to avoid French Law he should remain in the Kingdom where he is the law, ordering death and lashings according to his whim.

[underahedgerow]

14. He's not breaking any laws, he's received the locality permission to do this.

He's hardly a nasty dictator, and actually has a fairly good reputation considering that he's a Middle Eastern leader.

[pnwmom]

24. He IS a dictator. There is no such thing as a nice one. n/t

[Kingofalldems]

28. The Bush family just loves him.

Now how many of those 911 hijackers were Saudi?

[pnwmom]

23. It's the principle. Public beaches are supposed to be public. n/t

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

25. I respect them for it. If more Americans protested we might see some important changes.

[PCIntern]

9. I'm not that bright so could someone explain to me how

1000 people fit onto two 747's? That's 500 per plane...and they be outfitted to hold that many? Just asking...

[London Lover Man]

11. Easy

1 747 for the king and his personal assistant, his pilots and a few select concubines.

The other 747 is for his wives, sons and his wives, servants, and other staff.

[Surya Gayatri]

12. I suspect that the two 747s were just for him and his harem + multiple children.

The lackeys and retainers probably came later.

[Codeine]

16. In the densest passenger configuration

you can get 660 people in a 747. Even the standard configuration carries around 400 passengers.

[PCIntern]

17. Wow! Thanks! Had no idea...nt

[London Lover Man]

10. Money is king..

Time to send the corrupt king back to Saudi Arabia and order military readiness for the second largest army in the world.... finally order them to fight ISIS....

[Surya Gayatri]

15. Dream on - ISIS is being bankrolled in part by members of this corrupt 'royal' house.

[11 Bravo]

26. Awww, c'mon! Sometimes a King just needs to get his ...

freak on in private. If he feels the need to do so in someone else's country, well then fuck the hoi polloi!

[hifiguy]

27. The Saudi Royals are the First Vulgarians of the World.

Even Trump is a piker compared to those crawling shits.

Saudi Arabia = anus mundi.