The arrival of Crown Prince and defence minister Mohammed Bin Salman in Paris on 8 April proved a useful opportunity for activists to turn up the heat on the government of President Emmanuel Macron over French arms deals with Riyadh. France is the third largest supplier of defence equipment to Saudi Arabia, accounting for 3.6% of total imports in 2013-17, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri); it is comfortably eclipsed by the UK (23% of total Saudi imports) and the United States (61%).
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