France arrests 54 for defending terrorism
Dozens have been arrested or detained in France for defending terrorism, including controversial French comic Dieudonne; some of them have already been convicted, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday, according to Sputnik News.
The arrests come as the French government prepares tougher anti-terrorism measures after what became France’s worst terror attack in decades.
On January 7, 12 people were killed when two gunmen opened fire in the offices of the Parisian satire magazine Charlie Hebdo, in revenge for the paper's publication of satirical images of Mohammad in the past. The core of the magazine’s comic illustrators died in the attack.
According to the Guardian, Dieudonne, who had been accused of anti-Semitism for his remarks in the past, had posted on his Facebook account, "Tonight, as far as I’m concerned, I feel like Charlie Coulibaly", mixing the slogan "Je suis Charlie" (I am Charlie), which has been used in tribute to the journalists killed at Charlie Hebdo, with a reference to gunman Amédy Coulibaly, who killed four people at a Jewish supermarket on Friday.