France arrests homeless, alcoholics, teenagers for ‘terror speech’
Sat Jan 17, 2015 9:28PM
Ramin Mazaheri, Press TV, Paris
In a stunningly-swift lurch towards authoritarianism, France has already arrested more than 60 people for so-called “supporting terrorism” speech. Many of those arrested have gone from accusation to trial to a multi-year prison sentence in just three days.
France has been appalled that the guilty include high school students, a drunk driver angry at policemen, the mentally disabled and even homeless people.
While the government has ceaselessly defended journal Charlie Hebdo’s right to regularly publish inflaming images of Prophet Mohammed, the arrests have forced cabinet ministers to beat back widespread accusations of double standards. Some say that the government can either make mass free speech arrests or claim to support of free expression, but they cannot choose both.
The government claims to be enforcing the law, as freedom of expression is actually limited in many ways: Laws prohibit Holocaust denial and anti-semitism, but there are no specific laws to protect Muslim sensitivities. The reason appears clear: Muslims compose an estimated 5 million-person base of France’s social pyramid, and they have no one to lobby for their interests.
Such chilling measures aren’t new: The Hollande administration has handed out a 40,000 euro fine to just one labor union activist in a crowd of 1,000. They’ve singled out pro-Palestinian supporters and prominent anti-austerity campaigners. Odds are they are not finished with their selective oppression of free speech.
In a stunningly-swift lurch towards authoritarianism, France has already arrested more than 60 people for so-called “supporting terrorism” speech. Many of those arrested have gone from accusation to trial to a multi-year prison sentence in just three days.
France has been appalled that the guilty include high school students, a drunk driver angry at policemen, the mentally disabled and even homeless people.
While the government has ceaselessly defended journal Charlie Hebdo’s right to regularly publish inflaming images of Prophet Mohammed, the arrests have forced cabinet ministers to beat back widespread accusations of double standards. Some say that the government can either make mass free speech arrests or claim to support of free expression, but they cannot choose both.
The government claims to be enforcing the law, as freedom of expression is actually limited in many ways: Laws prohibit Holocaust denial and anti-semitism, but there are no specific laws to protect Muslim sensitivities. The reason appears clear: Muslims compose an estimated 5 million-person base of France’s social pyramid, and they have no one to lobby for their interests.
Such chilling measures aren’t new: The Hollande administration has handed out a 40,000 euro fine to just one labor union activist in a crowd of 1,000. They’ve singled out pro-Palestinian supporters and prominent anti-austerity campaigners. Odds are they are not finished with their selective oppression of free speech.