French officials have announced a full ban on all public protests related to the publication of cartoons of the Muslim Prophet Mohammad, days after the Charlie Habdo magazine published several in a new issue.
“There will be strictly no exceptions,” cautioned Interior Minister Manuel Valls, saying that any demonstrations will be broken up by security forces. France had previously closed a number of embassies across the Muslim World fearing protests.
Muslim leaders in France endorsed the decision, and urged worshipers not to attempt any public protests, saying that not taking to the streets would be a way to prove that Muslims are not ‘hotheads.’
The position of the government is odd, however, as they had publicly spurned calls to censor the magazine, saying free speech is inviolable in France, and are now banning public speech in criticism of the move.
More Maginot-line thinking from the French.
Hypocrites. In France, you can go to jail for making anti-Semitic comments or questioning the Holocaust, and the British 'royal' family just last week won an injunction against the newspaper that offended them by printing topless photos of the 'princess'.
The cartoons put out by a magazine whose staff act like 12-year-olds, proud of themselves for the stupid cartoons that have no purpose but to insult and provoke anger (and of course, to get them publicity and make money), are defended as some lofty symbol of Western civilization.
And then, just to confirm the hypocrisy about the French claim to freedom of expression, they ban any protests…