Toulouse: what do the “BDS” graffiti on the device mean?
For a few days, the acronym “BDS” has been registered for free on a billboard of the Toulouse ring road. For all to see, the message conveyed by these inscriptions is quite controversial.
The message is short, and the graffiti is colorful. On a billboard, a tag with the three letters BDS appears in the eyes of motorists, very close to the exit of the Empalot ring road. The acronym BDS is however quite controversial.
This string of letters stands for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. Politically very committed, this international movement rises up against the State of Israel vis-à-vis its management of the Palestinian territories.
A national movement?
The problem is not only local, several French cities are also suffering from this wave of graffiti. In the Loire, on the main road from Saint-Etienne to Lyon, many “BDS” inscriptions have appeared. “The acronym appears dozens of times, in all colors, all sizes and on all supports visible from the road: crash barriers, noise or retaining walls, footbridges and bridges,” reports the daily newspaper Le Progrès.
On the Toulouse scale, the fear remains that other graffiti from the BDS movement will appear on the ring road or near major roads.