Ow, la la!
French President Emmanuel Macron was caught on video being slapped across the face Tuesday during a tour to “take the country’s pulse” amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“À bas la Macronie!” a man could be heard shouting — “Down with Macronia!” — at the 43-year-old leader in the village of Tain-l’Hermitage in the Drome region.
Macron came with all that agility and stamina to receive Slap pic.twitter.com/GyVzfRDn6v
— Noble 🔴 (@Noble_Hassan) June 8, 2021
An LGBT police group has stated it will not be taking part in a Pride parade in Paris which is set to start in the no-go suburbs of Seine-Saint-Denis, over fears regarding officer safety.
The police LGBT group FLAG! released a statement this week saying that due to safety concerns for officers, they would not be participating in the Pride march this year.
Thirteen people have gone on trial in France charged with online harassment, including death threats, against a teenage girl who was placed under police protection after posting anti-Islam rants on social media.
The girl, named only as Mila, was forced to change schools over her expletive-laden videos, and the episode fuelled a debate about the right to offend people’s religious beliefs.
“The Qur’an is filled with nothing but hate, Islam is a shitty religion,” the teen said in the first post on Instagram in January 2020. She was 16 at the time.
I’d say she nailed it.
Pakistani court acquits Christian couple sentenced to death for blasphemy
…Kausar and Emmanuel were convicted following a complaint by a shopkeeper who claimed to have seen the text message.
Amnesty International said: “Today’s decision puts an end to the seven-year long ordeal of a couple who should not have been convicted nor faced a death sentence in the first place. ‘Blasphemy’ cases are often premised on flimsy evidence in environments that make fair trials impossible, underscoring the significance of this verdict. The authorities must now immediately provide Shafqat, Shagufta, their family and their lawyer Saiful ul-Malook with adequate security.”
They’re Dead Men Walking now.
On its website, Milli Gorus Association, a Turkish diaspora group, claims it will be “comparable in symbolism” to Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, the world’s oldest Gothic cathedral.
But a row over its funding has President Emmanuel Macron’s government accusing it of symbolising something far less flattering – namely “foreign interference” against its attempts to build an apolitical “Islam of France” and to stamp out Islamist “separation”.
President Emmanuel Macron has warned that France would withdraw troops from Mali if political instability there leads to greater Islamist radicalisation.
It follows a second coup in nine months in the West African nation.
Mr Macron warned of the risk of Mali “moving towards” greater Islamist influence.
France has 5,100 troops in the Sahel region which has been a front line in the war against Islamist militancy.
Paris, April 4, 2017. 4:00 am. A man breaks into the home of Sarah Halimi, a 65-year-old retired Jewish physician and educator. He beats and tortures her for over an hour while reciting verses from the Quran and repeatedly shouting, “Allahu Akbar!” [Allah is the greatest!”]. He uses anti-Semitic slurs and calls her “Sheitan” (Satan). He throws her from the balcony of her apartment and she falls to the ground, three floors below, dead. The police arrest him.
What happened was an unspeakable antisemitic murder. It was also the start of a process that brought to light once again the many serious and shameful dysfunctions that mark today’s France.
“A man stabbed a municipal policewoman several times in the premises of the municipal police in La Chapelle-sur-Erdre, in Loire-Atlantique. The policewoman is seriously injured. The suspect, known for radicalization, was arrested by the gendarmes and seriously injured during the operation.
…The suspect was arrested by the gendarmes a few hours later. Three gendarmes were injured during this operation. The suspect, armed, was seriously injured. According to reports from Europe 1, he is known to be radicalized and was released from prison a few weeks ago. This man, of French nationality, radicalized in prison and is registered with the FSPRT (file of reports for the prevention of terrorist radicalization). His release was validated by the Loire-Atlantique departmental assessment group. The suspect, who has a psychiatric history, had undertaken to undergo therapeutic treatment.”
A top French military official has said that while it will be difficult for the EU to forge a “common political identity,” Europe must not be forced to choose sides in the rivalry between the US and China.
In an interview with Le Figaro, the chief of the defense staff, Army General Francois Lecointre, spoke about the dangers coming from powers that “challenge the stability and international law,” in particular, Russia, China, and Iran.
“We are heading towards a reorganization of the world order that is structured around the competition between the United States and China,” the general said, adding that every nation “will be called upon to choose sides.”
Police officers gathered outside France’s National Assembly make for a powerful image: the proximity of security and politics, made real on the banks of the Seine.
Often criticised for overly aggressive tactics during protests, French police come here on Wednesday as protesters themselves, calling for a tougher response to the aggression security forces face.
Within the past month, a policeman was killed during an anti-drugs operation, and a policewoman was stabbed to death in a targeted attack. “It was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Stanislas Gaudon, head of the Alliance police union. “It was something we were afraid of, almost expecting.”
France’s top policeman has blasted nearly a hundred of his former colleagues who signed an open letter asking the president to better defend the police from “hordes of masked individuals.”
Striking a similar tone to earlier open letters that were signed by retired and active military personnel, a petition signed by 93 former police officers urged President Emmanuel Macron, the government, and lawmakers to “do everything possible to put an end to the extremely serious situation that France is going through in terms of security and public peace.”
France is continuing to crackdown on far-left attempts to make the country woke by banning the use of gender-neutral language in schools, saying that the push was a threat to the French language altogether and could push people to learn English instead.
A group of retired French police officers has issued a new open letter to President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Jean Castex, and the French Senate demanding safety for law enforcement and security for the citizens of France in general.
The petition, published on MesOpinions.com, a French petitions and surveys portal, was penned by 93 retired police officers, and solemnly asks the government “to do everything possible to put an end to the extremely serious situation that France is going through in matters of security and public tranquility.”
Signed by over 36,000 people, the petition suggests that the authority of the French state is being “undermined by violent minorities,” and that there are “lost territories” in France in which the laws of the Republic no longer apply.
French military personnel who signed another letter to President Emmanuel Macron warning him about a supposedly impending “civil war” should resign so they can voice their concerns freely, the Armed Forces chief of staff said.
Those among the French soldiers and officers who feel the urge to make public statements about the political situation in the country can find a perfect way to defend their opinions without compromising the neutrality of the army – by resigning, said Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Francois Lecointre.
French president Emmanuel Macron’s party has pulled support from one of its candidates in a local election after she wore a hijab in a campaign flyer.
Stanislas Guerini, the head of La République En Marche, President Macron’s party, said that they would not support Sara Zemmahi if she did not produce new campaign promotional material without the hijab.
The latest letter will send a chill through the corridors of the Elysée
Emmanuel Macron was in Strasbourg on Sunday where he addressed the Conference on the Future of Europe. This is where the president of France is happiest, describing the Utopia that he still believes can be achieved by the EU. He feels important and powerful and he is among like-minded people, such as David Sassoli, president of the European Parliament, who declared: ‘This conference is for ordinary citizens. Europe is not just for the elites, nor does it belong to them.’
