[D66] French government carries out mass arrests for “defending terrorism”

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http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/01/15/fran-j15.html

French government carries out mass arrests for “defending terrorism”
By Ulrich Rippert
15 January 2015

Coinciding with Wednesday’s publication of the first issue of Charlie
Hebdo since last week’s terrorist attack, the French interior minister
announced the arrest of 54 individuals accused of “glorifying terrorism.”

The arrest of the controversial French comedian Dieudonné, coming just
days after a mass march in Paris supposedly called in defense of freedom
of expression, was widely covered by the media.

Dieudonné had posted “I feel like Charlie Coulibaly” on Facebook,
joining the “I am Charlie Hebdo” slogan popularized in the wake of last
week’s terrorist attack on the newspaper with the name of the gunman who
was killed along with four hostages and a policeman in a Jewish
supermarket last Friday. The French government had previously banned
Dieudonné’s comedy shows, charging that they were anti-Semitic.

Among those arrested were many young people who have spoken out via
social media against the “I am Charlie” campaign. One young man was
arrested Tuesday evening on charges of “glorifying terrorism” and forced
to begin his prison term immediately. The 22-year-old had posted a video
on Facebook in which he allegedly referred disparagingly to a policeman
who had lost his life during the terrorist attack.

On Saturday, a 34-year-old man was sentenced in a summary procedure to a
four-year term in prison. He had caused an auto accident while drunk and
afterwards attacked a policeman with the words, “There should be more
Kouachis (the terrorist brothers). I hope you are the next victim.”

Many of the statements made by young people leading to their arrest give
expression to popular opposition and hostility to the police and the
courts. The mass mobilization of heavily armed police and military units
since the attack on Charlie Hebdo is widely perceived by youth and
workers as a provocation.

On Monday, the French defense minister ordered 10,000 soldiers onto the
streets, ostensibly to maintain law and order and to protect public
buildings. The government also made an additional 4,700 policemen and
gendarmes available in Paris for the purpose of protecting “especially
important institutions.”

These mass arrests underline the cynical character of the “I am Charlie”
campaign. The publication of racist anti-Muslim caricatures is being
glorified in the name of freedom of opinion and the press, while those
who oppose it and speak out against the police-military mobilization are
declared enemies of the state and thrown in prison.

On Wednesday, a week after the attack on Charlie Hebdo, the Yemeni
branch of the Al Qaeda terror network claimed responsibility. “Heroes
were recruited and they took action,” proclaimed Al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula (AQAP) leader Nasr al Ansi in a video that appeared on the
Internet. The assassination of the editorial staff was revenge for the
publication’s insulting caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, he said.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung commented that AQAP may have claimed
responsibility for the attack without actually having played an active
role in an attempt to bolster its standing in relation to the Islamic
State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Saïd Kouachi and his brother Chérif reportedly received weapons training
in Yemen. They are thought to have traveled through Oman to Yemen in the
middle of 2011 and stayed at an Al Qaeda camp near Marib, 100 miles east
of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.

Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansur Hadi felt compelled to issue a
statement insisting that his country was not an exporter of terrorism.
He pointed to a suicide attack on the police academy in the capital of
Sanaa that occurred only a few hours before the attack on Charlie Hebdo.
Thirty-seven people were killed in the Sanaa attack.

There are many indications that the terror attack on the editorial staff
of Charlie Hebdo is being exploited to prepare a stepped-up military
intervention by France in the Middle East, something that has been
widely opposed by the French public.

Yesterday evening, French President François Hollande addressed soldiers
and officers aboard the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, declaring,
“We can carry out the intervention in Iraq with even more intensity and
greater effectiveness if necessary.” The carrier works in close
collaboration with ground troops, he emphasized.

France was the first country to join the US in the attack on ISIS. The
French operation in Iraq, which goes by the name “Chammal,” consists of
800 soldiers, several fighter jets and a tanker aircraft.

Yesterday’s publication of an eight-page special edition of Charlie
Hebdo took place against the backdrop of large-scale support from the
state and a gigantic media campaign. In the space of a few hours, the
print run of 3 million was sold out and increased by a further two
million. Normally, the circulation for the magazine is around 30,000
copies, but for this edition it is being produced in 16 languages, with
300,000 copies for export.

The daily paper Libération made an entire floor available to the Charlie
Hebdo editorial staff. Radio France and France Télévision offered
logistical support. The French government pledged 1.2 million euros in
financial support.

In addition, Google has donated 250,000 euros and the Guardian Media
Group has donated 130,000. Le Monde and Vivendi SA Canal Plus, the
largest French media corporation and private commercial station, among
others, have donated additional sums of an unknown quantity.

The newspaper L’Obs reported yesterday that Charlie Hebdo had maintained
close contact with the French government for some time. At the end of
September, it reported, four leading members of the editorial staff
visited President Hollande at the Elysée Palace to discuss the financial
difficulties of the magazine and ask for support. Among the visitors to
the Elysée were the cartoonists Stéphane Charbonnier and Jean Cabut, as
well as Bernard Maris and Patrich Pelloux, who were responsible for
finances. They were all pleased that the president took an interest in
their concerns, L’Obs reported.

The decision to publish the special edition with a caricature of
Mohammed on the front page was an intentional provocation backed by the
highest levels of the state. On the inside pages, the newspaper features
additional vulgar and obscene caricatures, including half-naked Muslim
women wearing veils.

Leading representatives of Islamic associations warned that there would
be consequences. According to the Lebanese Daily Star, the spokesperson
for the Iranian foreign ministry, Marzieh Afkham, said the Charlie Hebdo
cover “could provoke and hurt the feelings of Muslims worldwide and lead
to a vicious circle.”