Latest update: 17/09/2012 

- demonstrations - France - Islam


France moves to block anti-US protests over film

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France's Interior Minister Manuel Valls said on Sunday that any further anti-US protests over an amateur film deemed insulting to Islam would be banned, a day after some 150 demonstrators were arrested near the US embassy in Paris.

 

France's interior minister said he will prevent any further anti-US demonstrations sparked by an anti-Islam film that has triggered sometimes deadly protests across the globe.

France set to review new anti-terrorism bill

France’s cabinet is reviewing a new anti-terrorism bill targeting French citizens who travel abroad – particularly to Pakistan or Afghanistan – for terrorism training, the interior ministry reported in late September.

“Young people from our very own neighbourhoods may be affected by this ideology of hate through the Internet, through trips to countries like Afghanistan or Pakistan”, Interior Minister Manuel Valls said in an interview with French television channel, France 2.

A source close to the issue told AFP that the bill allows authorities to prosecute French citizens who return to the country after “having committed an act of terrorism abroad, or who travel overseas, particularly to the Afghan or Pakistan region, to train in terrorism camps with the intention of coming back to France”.

(FRANCE 24 with wires)

The warning came a day after police in Paris detained around 150 people for taking part in an unauthorised impromptu protest near the US embassy that saw three officers slightly hurt after a number of clashes.

"I have issued instructions so that this does not happen again," Interior Minister Manuel Valls told France 2 television. "These protests are forbidden. Any incitement to hatred must be fought with the greatest firmness."

Valls said that among the roughly 250 protesters on Saturday there were some groups that "advocate radical Islam", but they were not representative of the moderate Islam practised by most Muslims in France.

Also on Sunday the Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into the unauthorized protest. The prosecutor will look into how such a large demonstration was organized without the proper permits, according to spokeswoman Agnes Thibault Lecuivre.

In the wake of Saturday’s clashes, uniformed and plain-clothes police were added to the streets surrounding the embassy, police officer Pierre Coric told AP news agency.

France is home to Europe's largest Islamic community, with at least four million Muslims in the country.

A wave of anti-American protests erupted across the globe last week over a film made by amateur filmmakers based in the United States, entitled "Innocence of Muslims", which has offended some Muslims because of its insulting depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.

FRANCE 24 with wires
 

Date created : 16/09/2012 
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Technocracy

by EZi (not verified) - 19/09/2012 - 03:23

It should not have matter, when fanatics want to go out and demonstrate they should have the right to do so, In a country that insists is a democracy (France), yet it's actions are contrary to the idea of governance that France has desperately tried and failed to introduce to the Arabs in the Middle-EaSt. Technocracy is not democracy.

France moves to block anti-US protests over film

by william andrew - 18/09/2012 - 17:56

Thank you, France, for protecting US Embassy personnel from harm. Wm Dobkowski, Philadelphia, PA USA

False Champions of Democracy: double standards!

by Mamoon (not verified) - 18/09/2012 - 11:22

Does someone has the rights in democratic France to even express the critical views against holocaust; what to say of denying it totally? What happened to Robert Faurisson in France in 2006? There are so many other examples.
Peace can't be achieved unilaterally. If European countries can do the legislation against denial of Holocaust; so must they do for all forms of racial and religious hatred, including against Islam!
Therefore, the French Government should cure the actual disease rather then merely addressing the symptoms and promoting phobia-politics.

Anti Islam film in USA

by Benjamin (not verified) - 18/09/2012 - 10:13

Ce film est une idiotie et n'aurai jamais du voire le jour. Qui sont les vrais responsables et financiers de ce brulot? Il y a des limites à ne pas franchir. Le conflit au moyen orient dure depuis trop longtemps.Il faut que ce soit la communauté internationale qui règle ce probléme et permette à ces deux communautés qui ont un origine commun à trouver une solution pour qu'ils vivent en bonne intelligence et se respectent.

The stupid film

by GTR5 - 17/09/2012 - 21:56

No the French are not hypocrites at all. Mr. Valls is trying to bring calm and order to France because of a stupid Egyptian who made this film. France has a very good democracy.

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