The Libre Pensée association in Gard met with Jalil Benabdillah, Vice-President of the Occitanie Region for Economic Affairs, on January 18th in Nîmes to protest a €200 million aid package allocated to defense sector companies. This meeting followed a demonstration on January 31st against the regional council's vote. The Occitanie Region, which employs 25,000 people in 350 defense companies, stated the funding aims to support French efforts, innovation, development, and job creation, with €100 million from European funds and €100 million from fundraising. The region clarified that the 13 selected companies focus on cybersecurity and biotech, not direct weapons manufacturing. However, Libre Pensée, represented by President Marie-Rose Baeza, argues that any support for arms-related industries ultimately serves warfare and criticizes the region's "double talk" and inability to control how the funds are ultimately used.