French President Macron says Islam ‘in crisis’, prompting backlash from Muslims

[Firebat]

France warns citizens to be cautious as anger seethes in Muslim world over cartoons

PARIS (Reuters) - France warned its citizens living or travelling in several Muslim-majority countries to take extra security precautions on Tuesday as anger surged over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

In a sign that some countries want to limit the fallout, Saudi Arabia condemned the cartoons but held back from echoing calls by other Muslim states for a boycott of French products or other actions.

The row has its roots in a knife attack outside a French school on Oct. 16 in which a man of Chechen origin beheaded Samuel Paty, a teacher who had shown pupils cartoons of Prophet Mohammad in a civics lesson on freedom of speech. The caricatures are considered blasphemous by Muslims.

France’s foreign ministry on Tuesday issued safety advice to French citizens in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Iraq and Mauritania, advising them to exercise caution. They should stay away from any protests over the cartoons and avoid any public gatherings.

“It is recommended to exercise the greatest vigilance, especially while travelling, and in places that are frequented by tourists or expatriate communities,” it said.

The French embassy in Turkey issued similar advice to its citizens there.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has been one of the most vociferous critics of the French government, leading calls for a boycott of French goods.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin retorted on Tuesday that Turkey, and Pakistan, should not meddle in France’s domestic affairs.

Paris has recalled its ambassador in Ankara, and Pakistan’s parliament on Monday passed a resolution urging the government to recall its envoy from Paris.

The images of the Prophet were first published years ago by a French satirical magazine, whose editorial offices were attacked in 2015 by gunmen who killed 12 people.

Since the beheading of the teacher Paty this month, the cartoons have been displayed in France in solidarity, angering some Muslims.

President Emmanuel Macron, who met representatives of France’s Muslim community on Monday, has pledged to fight “Islamist separatism”, saying it was threatening to take over some Muslim communities in France.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...s-in-muslim-world-over-cartoons-idUSKBN27C1IA

 

[MenInG]

Saudi Arabia has said it “rejects any attempt to link Islam with terrorism, and condemns the offensive cartoons of the Prophet” amid an escalating row between France and some Muslim-majority nations over Paris’s support for the right to caricature the Prophet.

Its government also called for “intellectual and cultural freedom to be a beacon of respect, tolerance and peace that rejects practices and acts which generate hatred, violence and extremism and are contrary to the values of coexistence,” a Saudi foreign ministry official told state media on Tuesday.

The official added that Riyadh condemned all acts of terrorism regardless of the perpetrators, in an apparent reference to the beheading of a teacher in Paris this month by a Muslim man angered by the use of caricatures of the Prophet in a class on free speech.

The images have sparked anger in the Muslim world.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for a boycott of French goods, and Pakistan’s parliament passed a resolution urging the government to recall its envoy from Paris.

Several Arab trade associations also announced a boycott.

Protests have been held in Iraq, Turkey and the Gaza Strip, with demonstrators in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, burning the French flag and stepping on images of French President Emmanuel Macron.

In Saudi Arabia, calls for a boycott of French supermarket chain Carrefour were trending on social media, though a company representative in France told Reuters news agency it had yet to feel any impact.

Tuesday’s statement from the Saudi foreign ministry did not mention the boycott calls.

On Monday, Erdogan again lambasted his French counterpart, saying for a third time that Macron needed a mental health check – a rebuke that caused France to recall its ambassador from Ankara over the weekend.

The Turkish president also urged European leaders to halt what he called Macron’s “anti-Islam” agenda.

“European leaders with foresight and morals must break down the walls of fear,” Erdogan said in a speech at the start of a week of celebrations in Turkey to commemorate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.

“They must put an end to the anti-Islam agenda and hate campaign that Macron is leading.”

The criticism came after Macron pledged to fight “Islamist separatism”, saying it was threatening to take over some Muslim communities in France.

Critics say Macron’s rhetoric encourages Islamophobia, incites hate and alienates his country’s six million Muslims – the largest Muslim minority in Europe.

Late on Monday, the French embassy in Ankara issued a warning to French nationals living and travelling in Turkey to exercise “great vigilance” due to the “local and international” context, urging them to avoid any gathering or demonstration in public places.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...demns-prophets-cartoons-ami-france-turkey-row

 

[Abdullah719]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The terrorist killed in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Avignon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Avignon</a> and who shouted <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AllahuAkbar?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AllahuAkbar</a>, actually belonged to the white supremacy organisation <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/G%C3%A9n%C3%A9rationIdentitaire?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GénérationIdentitaire</a>. Last week, another one from the same organisation got jailed after pretending to be an islamist and praising terrorism. <a href="https://t.co/XCDWI9GyQf">pic.twitter.com/XCDWI9GyQf</a></p>— Yasser Louati (@yasserlouati) <a href="https://twitter.com/yasserlouati/status/1321837697972002820?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 29, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Incident in Avignon (not the Nice attack).

 

[MenInG]

EU leaders urge ‘understanding among religions’

EU leaders have urged the world “to work towards dialogue and understanding among communities and religions, rather than division”.

In a statement issued by EU Council Chief Charles Michel, the 27 leaders expressed solidarity with France but made no reference to the controversy over cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad.

 

[Sirris]

Yes, the Islamic world and Muslims are in a crisis.

One group of followers of Islam says that the one who insults the Prophet should be beheaded.

Another set of followers of Islam say no there is no such thing.

We have an obvious crisis at hand here.

 

[Firebat]

Pakistani police fire teargas at protesters trying to approach French Embassy

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani police on Friday briefly fired tear gas at protesters who broke through security blockades in Islamabad in a failed attempt to demonstrate at the French Embassy against the printing of images depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

No one was injured and protesters later moved back towards a gathering spot originally agreed with the authorities, police said.

Muslims around the world have protested against France and President Emmanuel Macron, who has vowed to stand firm against what he described as attacks on French values and freedom of expression by radical Islamists.

Around 3,000 protesters gathered in Islamabad, about half a km (less than a mile) from the fortified diplomatic enclave where the French Embassy is, according to a Reuters witness.

Roads leading to the enclave were blocked using shipping containers and barbed wire and were guarded by riot police, but protesters managed to climb over the blockades - prompting police to fire teargas.

“We needed to fire teargas shells when the protesters tried to violate their agreement,” police official Amanullah Niazi said, referring to an agreement with protest leaders that they would not progress beyond a certain point.

The protest was organised by a traders’ association, which has already announced that it would take French products off shelves across the country, and came on the day Pakistan is celebrating the birthday of Prophet Muhammad.

Protests and gatherings marking the occasion were also held in the cities of Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...to-approach-french-embassy-idUSKBN27F276?il=0

 

[Madplayer]

Macron has still not condemned the stabbings of Muslim women in France.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Yes, the Islamic world and Muslims are in a crisis.

One group of followers of Islam says that the one who insults the Prophet should be beheaded.

Another set of followers of Islam say no there is no such thing.

We have an obvious crisis at hand here.

You are right. The answer to fix the crisis must be to project obscene images of the Prophet PBUH onto govt buildings.

 

[Nadeemp]

You are right. The answer to fix the crisis must be to project obscene images of the Prophet PBUH onto govt buildings.

The guy is saying muslims have a problem. Muslims are not putting images of prophets on buildings. Maybe he means time for some introspection for the muslim community

 

[Madplayer]

Khabib has just posted Macron's pic with a shoe imprint on his instagram handle.

 

[The Viper]

Khabib has just posted Macron's pic with a shoe imprint on his instagram handle.

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font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-stylermal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;"> View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"><div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; 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overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-spacewrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CG9t9IUs0eZ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-stylermal; font-weightrmal; line-height:17px; text-decorationne;" target="_blank">A post shared by Khabib Nurmagomedov (@khabib_nurmagomedov)</a> on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2020-10-30T1004+00:00">Oct 30, 2020 at 3:29am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

The guy is saying muslims have a problem. Muslims are not putting images of prophets on buildings. Maybe he means time for some introspection for the muslim community

And you think Macron's actions are going to motivate some introspection?

 

[Nadeemp]

Nope

 

[Nadeemp]

I dont agree with the whole charlie hebdo people, dont believe in those cartoons, dont like the PM. However i do believe in Freedom of press. The best answer to that is ignore it. After a few times they will move on

 

[Lurker_Ind]

I dont agree with the whole charlie hebdo people, dont believe in those cartoons, dont like the PM. However i do believe in Freedom of press. The best answer to that is ignore it. After a few times they will move on

This whole getting upset over cartoons is a slippery slope. You cannot bow down to extremists who try to shut down free speech and press. Force should not be tolerated when it comes to free speech. You ban Cartoons now, tomorrow some other group will find something else offensive and will demand ban on that too. The list of banning things will keep getting longer and longer and soon there will be nothing.

 

[MenInG]

Khabib Nurmagomedov
Nurmagomedov retired last week after beating Justin Gaethje to extend his perfect professional record to 29-0
Retired UFC fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov has criticised French President Emmanuel Macron for his response to two terror attacks in the country.

Three people were killed in Nice on Thursday, just two weeks after a teacher was beheaded in a Paris suburb.

Nurmagomedov, who is Muslim, used social media to accuse Macron of "offending the feelings of more than 1.5 billion Muslim believers".

The post included an image of a boot print over Macron's face.

Nurmagomedov added: "We are Muslims, we love our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) more than our mothers, fathers, children, wives and all other people close to our hearts."

Macron described the stabbings outside Nice's Notre-Dame basilica as an "Islamist terrorist attack".

The French president had earlier caused anger in several Muslim-majority countries for his comments about the death of teacher Samuel Paty, who was targeted after showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to his students.

Macron subsequently defended the right to publish the cartoons.

Depictions of the Prophet Muhammad can cause serious offence to Muslims because Islamic tradition explicitly forbids images of the Prophet and Allah.

Russian Nurmagomedov, 32, defeated interim champion Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in Abu Dhabi last week to extend his perfect professional record to 29-0 - before immediately announcing his retirement.

He is considered by some to be the greatest UFC fighter of all time.

 

[Technics 1210]

Western papers, including The Times, are already publishing articles on how these images, and France's response, are uniting the Islamic world.

If there's one thing the West is afraid of, it's a united Muslim world.

Mark my words, the West will never allow it, and France will be reduced to the Nazi cesspit it was destined to be just to avoid a united Muslim world.

Looking forward to the demise of France, along with EU of course.

 

[Nadeemp]

Western papers, including The Times, are already publishing articles on how these images, and France's response, are uniting the Islamic world.

If there's one thing the West is afraid of, it's a united Muslim world.

Mark my words, the West will never allow it, and France will be reduced to the Nazi cesspit it was destined to be just to avoid a united Muslim world.

Looking forward to the demise of France, along with EU of course.

Can i have what you are smoking.

 

[KingKhanWC]

#stopmarcon has trended at no.4 on twitter tonight.

Nice to see many non-Muslims joining in.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Can i have what you are smoking.

You dont need any drugs.

 

[Technics 1210]

#stopmarcon has trended at no.4 on twitter tonight.

Nice to see many non-Muslims joining in.

I am telling you, this stunt from Macron will backfire.

People are waking up the game.

 

[Varun]

#stopmarcon has trended at no.4 on twitter tonight.

Nice to see many non-Muslims joining in.

Clearly a seminal moment in world history.

Just imagine the ones at #1, #2 and #3.

 

[Madplayer]

Western papers, including The Times, are already publishing articles on how these images, and France's response, are uniting the Islamic world.

If there's one thing the West is afraid of, it's a united Muslim world.

Mark my words, the West will never allow it, and France will be reduced to the Nazi cesspit it was destined to be just to avoid a united Muslim world.

Looking forward to the demise of France, along with EU of course.

I wish this were true but to be honest the muslim world is far from uniting. Most of the muslim leadership is in cahoots with the west. There is a nexus between the western crony capitalists and the oil selling Arabs and this will never allow muslims to unite until this system pays off their bills while ensuring subjugation and exploitation.
The seed of glory for a musalmaan is Imaan. This comes at an individual level and from within. It helps us tame our biggest enemy, the Nafs. Our seed is diseased.

 

[Arsal_AK]

The demise of the EU and the west being afraid of a united Muslim world..... these threads just keep on giving. Apparently being Muslim alone bestows you with some amazing magical powers and you start acing the scientific, technological and economic challenges that plague others. I also do hope that the Muslim countries unite, think of all the possibilities just by mere unification alone. I'll personally like to see a warp engine.

If all Muslim people thought like this, I would be very worried. But thankfully, there are some spineless cowards who don't recognize the ludicrous conspiracy theories that the whole world is out to get them. They continue to work along with like-minded people from the rest of the world, to atleast not take the world back to the stone ages, even if they cannot push it forward. More power to them.

 

[Nadeemp]

The demise of the EU and the west being afraid of a united Muslim world..... these threads just keep on giving. Apparently being Muslim alone bestows you with some amazing magical powers and you start acing the scientific, technological and economic challenges that plague others. I also do hope that the Muslim countries unite, think of all the possibilities just by mere unification alone. I'll personally like to see a warp engine.

If all Muslim people thought like this, I would be very worried. But thankfully, there are some spineless cowards who don't recognize the ludicrous conspiracy theories that the whole world is out to get them. They continue to work along with like-minded people from the rest of the world, to atleast not take the world back to the stone ages, even if they cannot push it forward. More power to them.

Hahaha. Is that sarcasm I feeel

 

[Varun]

Western papers, including The Times, are already publishing articles on how these images, and France's response, are uniting the Islamic world.

If there's one thing the West is afraid of, it's a united Muslim world.

Mark my words, the West will never allow it, and France will be reduced to the Nazi cesspit it was destined to be just to avoid a united Muslim world.

Looking forward to the demise of France, along with EU of course.

Just like the EU, a united Muslim bloc would actually be favourable for the world order. But we are far from such a stage as things stand.

 

[MenInG]

French police say an orthodox priest has been injured in a firearm incident in Lyon and the attacker has fled

 

[El Generico]

Macron seems to be backing down a bit from the extreme stand he took. Claims his words were distorted.



Macron says he understands Muslims’ shock over cartoons

I think that the reactions came as a result of lies and distortions of my words because people understood that I supported these cartoons,” the president said in the interview.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...-cartoons-came-from-free-and-independent-news

 

[MenInG]

At least 50,000 people have staged the biggest demonstration yet in Bangladesh over French President Emmanuel Macron’s stance on the right to publish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, as they tried to reach the French embassy in Dhaka, police said.

Macron’s comment that Islam was “in crisis” and his defence of the offensive caricature, which Muslims say is an insult to their prophet, has prompted a global backlash, with Muslims across the world holding protests and calling for a boycott of French products.

The rally, which started at Bangladesh’s biggest mosque in the capital Dhaka, was stopped from getting close to the French embassy where security had been stepped up.

The march was more than two kilometres (1.25 miles) long and crowds – ignoring coronavirus social distancing rules – carried effigies of Macron, caricatures and a fake coffin for the French president.

Police estimated some 50,000 people took part in the protest, which demanded a boycott of French products, while organisers said there were more than 100,000 people.

Protesters chanted “No defamation of the Prophet Muhammad” and burned an effigy of the French leader.

Police put up a barbed wire barricade across a major road to stop the demonstrators getting close to Dhaka’s embassy district and the event broke up without trouble.

The third major anti-France demonstration in Bangladesh in the past week was called by Hefazat-i-Islam, one of the biggest Muslim political groups in the country of 160 million people.

Bangladesh’s government has so far not commented on France or the protests.

‘Throw away French products’
Many people came from towns outside Dhaka to take part in the rally.

Junaid Babunagaori, deputy chief of Hefazat-i-Islam, called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to move the Bangladesh parliament to condemn Macron.

“I call on traders to throw away French products. I ask the UN to take stern action against France,” he told the rally.

Other Hefazat leaders said Macron must apologise to Muslims around the world.

The French president, in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, said he understood the feelings of Muslims but maintained that the “radical Islam” he is trying to fight is a threat to all people, especially Muslims.

Macron’s comments come amid heightened tensions between the French government and the Muslim world over the cartoons, which Muslims consider to be blasphemous.

“I understand the sentiments being expressed and I respect them. But you must understand my role right now, it’s to do two things: to promote calm and also to protect these rights,” Macron said.

“I will always defend in my country the freedom to speak, to write, to think, to draw,” he added.

Macron also hit out at what he described as “distortions” from political leaders, saying people were often led to believe that the caricatures were a creation of the French state.

“I think that the reactions came as a result of lies and distortions of my words because people understood that I supported these cartoons,” the president said in the interview.

But Macron’s defence has not convinced Muslims. On Monday, Indonesian Muslims marched to the heavily guarded France Embassy in the capital Jakarta.

Waving white flags bearing the Islamic declaration of faith, more than 2,000 demonstrators, many wearing white robes, filled a major thoroughfare in downtown Jakarta.

Authorities blocked streets leading to the embassy where more than 1,000 police and soldiers were deployed in and around the building barricaded with razor wire.

The protesters chanted “God is Great” and “Boycott French products” as they marched. Their banners and placards slammed French President Macron, and some protesters stomped on Macron posters in the blocked streets. Smaller protests also occurred in other Indonesian cities, including in Surabaya, Makassar, Medan and Bandung.

On Saturday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo strongly condemned the attacks in Paris and Nice as well as remarks by Macron that were deemed offensive toward Islam and Muslims.

Widodo said freedom of expression that tarnishes the honour, sanctity and sacredness of religious values and symbols could not be justified and must be stopped.

“Linking religion with terrorist acts is a big mistake,” Widodo said. “Terrorism is terrorism, terrorists are terrorists, terrorism has nothing to do with any religion.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/2/at-least-50000-take-part-in-anti-france-rally-in-bangladesh

 

[Abdullah719]

In wake of attacks, one French Muslim asks: does my country love me?

ARGENTEUIL, France (Reuters) - Naouelle Garnoussi is a devout Muslim who was brought up in France, prays five times a day, enjoys her job working with local communities and covets her designer handbag.

Raised by her grandparents - one Muslim, the other Catholic - the 36-year-old identifies as French, and defends France’s secular values that separate religion from the state in public life.

Yet in the aftermath of a spate of Islamist attacks she has begun to feel increasingly alienated in her own country.

Compatriots tend to see her as a Muslim first, she said, and the government’s response to the violence left her wondering: are Muslims really equal in the eyes of the Republic?

“My grandmother was French. My great-grandmother was French, she was called Antoinette. You don’t get more French than that, but sometimes I’m made to feel I am no longer French, just a Muslim,” Garnoussi told Reuters in her flat in Argenteuil, a working-class Paris suburb.

Attitudes among members of the public towards Muslims appeared to be hardening, she continued.

“Sometimes I forget to put my phone on silent and the call to prayer rings out. The other day I was spat on (when that happened), so it’s starting to get really bad.”

Some prominent Muslim figures fear the wider public is tarring them with the same brush as militants.

This week, a statement from a group of Muslim leaders pressed the government to act so that the “majority of Muslims who overwhelmingly condemn the recent terrorist attacks are not lumped together with the fomenters of hate.”

‘IT HURT US’

Garnoussi was bewildered by satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s decision in September to re-publish caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad that had caused outrage across the Muslim world when they first appeared in a Danish newspaper in 2005.


The magazine did so to mark the trial of the alleged accomplices in a militant attack in 2015 in which 12 people, including some of its best-known cartoonists, were killed.

Weeks after the re-publication, a Chechen teenager beheaded a high school teacher who had used the cartoons in a class on freedom expression. Last week a woman was decapitated and two other people killed in Nice in a suspected Islamist attack.

The French government defended the caricatures, saying that the country’s secular values permitted blasphemy.

For Garnoussi, their publication was a deliberately provocative act that risked making life harder for the many among France’s estimated five million Muslims who, like her, condemn violence in the name of religion.

“It hurt us and left us feeling the State doesn’t love us,” she said of Charlie Hebdo’s actions and the government’s defence of them.

President Emmanuel Macron’s government responded to the murder of teacher Samuel Paty and the victims in Nice days later with a promise to crack down on what some public officials have called “the enemy within”.

It has shut down a mosque on the edge of Paris, dismantled at least three Muslim associations suspected of fomenting extremist views and vowed to accelerate legislation to counter Islamic behaviour that runs against the Republic’s values.

But in an effort to rectify what Macron said were misapprehensions about France’s relationship with Muslims, he stressed in an interview with Al Jazeera that he did not support the cartoons and that France was in no way anti-Muslim.

The president has spoken of creating an “Islam of France”, or what he has more recently termed an “enlightened Islam” that is compatible with his country’s secular values.

It is a concept that makes little sense to Garnoussi, for whom Islam transcends borders.

“If I am in Japan, Papua New Guinea or France I will pray five times a day in the same way. It is just my prayer mat, facing Mecca, that will point in a different direction.”

https://in.reuters.com/article/france-security-muslims-idUSKBN27K22N

 

[The Viper]

Several hurt in Remembrance Day 'bomb attack' at Saudi cemetery

Several people have been hurt in a bomb attack at a Remembrance Day ceremony attended by foreign diplomats in the Saudi city of Jeddah, France says.

A French foreign ministry statement said an improvised explosive device blew up at a cemetery for non-Muslims, as officials from several consulates remembered the end of World War One.

It strongly condemned what it called the "cowardly, unjustifiable attack".

There was no immediate confirmation from the Saudi authorities.

On 29 October, a guard at the French consulate in Jeddah was stabbed and injured by a Saudi man on the same day that three people were killed in a knife attack in the French city of Nice that was blamed on an "Islamist terrorist".

A Saudi-based French journalist, Clarence Rodriguez, tweeted photographs showing the aftermath of Wednesday's attack, including one appearing to show an injured person receiving treatment.

"Attempted attack this morning at the non-Muslim cemetery in Jeddah. During the #11November ceremony. In the presence of the consuls-general of France, [Ireland], [Britain]... and French expatriates," she wrote.

"There are wounded... [13] days after the knife attack at the consulate, France targeted once again!?"

She added that a Greek security officer in plainclothes was seriously wounded. He had just taken up his post at the Greek consulate.

A Greek diplomatic official told Reuters news agency that four people were slightly injured by the blast, one of them Greek.

The French foreign ministry said the consulates involved were calling on the Saudi authorities to "to shed as much light as they can on this attack, and to identify and hunt down the perpetrators".

The French consulate in Jeddah also urged French nationals in Saudi Arabia to exercise "maximum vigilance" following the attack, according to Reuters.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-54889545

 

[saeedhk]

Translation: Whoever murders the French President will be awarded RS 50 million (USD$315,000) - Trade Association of Mecca Tower and Liberty Market.

 

[Gilly]

That sign looks photoshopped to me.

 

[El Generico]

Looks very photoshopped, would be shocked if it’s real.

 

[saeedhk]

As far as I know, it is 100% genuine. There are a few others too! One shop-keeper has plastered a massive banner on his shop front that reads: behead those who insult the prophet.

 

[cric_man]

French Imam on trial on terrorism for criticizing Macron and racist french doctors

So much for freedom of expression. I guess it is only for non muslims.

France becoming a basket case...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0kv3anL6Wt8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Giannis]

That's French culture for you, whether it's France or Quebec they just can't stand criticism the way the Anglophones can.

 

[sweep_shot]

Insane from France. Is Macron mentally alright?

I have praised Erdogan many times. Why is this an issue?

 

[Abdullah719]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What will be the narrative going into the presidential election? That Macron is the bulwark against Le Pen, who he considers too moderate? <a href="https://t.co/GrpmcTWuiE">https://t.co/GrpmcTWuiE</a></p>— Shafik Mandhai (@ShafikFM) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShafikFM/status/1360218144888008705?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>