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Jean-Christophe Fromantin (4th from L) with several 'runners for Gilad Shalit'
Photo: Alain Azria
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NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE (EJP)---Around 800 people went running or walking Sunday morning in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris, to ask for the release of Gilad Shalit, the 22-year-old Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas in Gaza since June 2006.
“Running for Gilad Shalit”, which took place under a light snow, was organized at the initiative of the mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine, Jean-Christophe Fromantin, along with film director and scripwriter Elie Chouraqui.
The run was sponsored by a French group called the "Collectif Liberte pour Gilad" that was recently formed with the help of Shalit's family.
" I decided to organize this action after meeting with Noam Shalit, Gilad’s father,” Fromantin explained, stressing that it was “a real message of peace.”
“Nothing justifies not to let Gilad Shalit give news to its parents,” he added. “That’s why there a need to permanently shake the opinion".
Elie Chouraqui, who produced a video clip on this subject, stressed that Gilad Shalit “is being held as a hostage, like Ingrid Betancourt".
Betancourt is a French-Colombian former hostage who was freed in July by the Colombian army after being held in the jungle by the Marxist FARC guerrilla for more than six years.
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From L to R: Film director Elie Chouraqui, who produced a short clip calling for the release of Gilad Shalit, Noam Shalit and Jean-Christophe Fromantin, Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine.
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French popular singer Patrick Bruel, who took part in Sunday’s run, relayed the same message: " It is necessary to awake the consciences on this case as we did with other hostages such as Florence Aubenas or Ingrid Betancourt. Gilad was not a soldier but was on military duty when he was kidnapped. The nuance is very important,” he said.
Gilad Shalit has dual French and Israeli citizenship.
Jean Sarkozy, son of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and a regional councillor in the city of Neuilly-sur-Seine, made a short appearance among the runners.
Fromantin asked that every Sunday in France another town hall organizes a similar action.
On December 14 a new action of mobilization is schduled in Strasbourg, Lyon and Marseilles.