Bad news in France. P.S. This is how governments operate

[Mudhammam]

Looks like freedom of speech isn't as big of a deal to the French government as they seemed to express the past week and a half. But this is an incredibly opportune time to consolidate control over how people express themselves in speech and writing:

54 people were arrested in France as of Wednesday for “apologizing for terrorism” in the wake of the attack on the Charlie Hebdo office last week that left a dozen dead. French authorities also announced the country would crack down on what the Associated Press summarized as “hate speech, anti-Semitism and glorifying terrorism.”

The 54 arrested were rounded up for making or defending terrorist threats in the last week; some have already been sentenced under emergency guidelines.

One person hauled in was Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, a controversial French comedian who sympathized with one of the Paris gunmen in a Facebook post. “Tonight, as far as I’m concerned, I feel like Charlie Coulibaly,” he wrote, mixing Charlie Hebdo with the last name of the man who took hostage a Jewish deli. He has since deleted the post.

Dieudonné (his stage name) has been convicted of anti-Semitism under France’s harsh laws against anti-Semitic speech; his stage show was banned last year for Holocaust jokes. He gained international notoriety after he popularized a Nazi-like salute that was then made by French soccer player Nicolas Anelka.
Government spokesperson Stephane Le Foll said France was also considering Patriot Act-like measures, including wiretapping, to further combat terror plots — as well as urban projects to fight inequality, where it feels violence and hatred foments.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/france-cr...errorists/