Emmanuel Macron has defended his citizens’ rights to freedom of speech, as Charlie Hebdo announced that it was republishing the cartoons
The French President, Emmanuel Macron, has defended his citizens’ rights to freedom of speech. The leader’s remarks came as the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, the target of a massacre by terrorists in 2015, announced that it was republishing the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, has said on Tuesday that it was not his place to pass judgment on the decision made by the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, to publish the cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad.
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Macron spoke on the matter during an official visit to Lebanon, he said that it was important for citizens of France to be respectful to each other, and avoid a “dialogue of hate” but he would not criticise the decision of the satirical magazine to republish the cartoon. The President’s comments were reported on the French broadcaster BFM TV.
The President’s remarks came as Charlie Hebdo, the target of a massacre by Islamist gunmen in 2015, said on Tuesday that it was republishing of the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to mark the start of the trial this week of the alleged accomplices in the terrorist attack.
Macron said:
“Beyond the trial that will begin tomorrow, and I don’t have to express myself on this point as president, we will have a thought for all those who fell,”
Macron praised the ideas of democracy and freedom of speech as he said: “It’s never the place of a president of the Republic to pass judgment on the editorial choice of a journalist or newsroom, never. Because we have freedom of the press.”
“There is in France a freedom to blaspheme which is attached to the freedom of conscience. I am here to protect all these freedoms. In France, one can criticise a president, governors, blaspheme,” he said.
“There is in France a freedom to blaspheme which is attached to the freedom of conscience. I am here to protect all these freedoms. In France, one can criticise a president, governors, blaspheme,” he said.
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President Macron also paid tribute to the many victims of the January 2015 terrorist attacks, stressing that on Wednesday, the first day of the trial, that “we will all have a thought for the women and men who were cowardly shot because they drew, wrote, corrected, were there to help, to deliver.”
On the 7th of January 2015, two men forced their way into the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris. Armed with rifles and other weapons, the men killed 12 people and injured 11 others in the capital city of France. The gunmen later identified themselves as belonging to an Islamic terrorist group.
