{"id":3737,"date":"2020-11-02T17:59:26","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T17:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=3737"},"modified":"2020-11-02T17:59:26","modified_gmt":"2020-11-02T17:59:26","slug":"a-terror-attack-in-nice-threatens-to-turbocharge-frances-debate-on-free-speech-and-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=3737","title":{"rendered":"A terror attack in Nice threatens to turbocharge France\u2019s debate on free speech and Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“The killing of three people in southern France on Thursday has been deemed a terrorist attack<\/a> by French officials \u2014 and it looks to be related to the country\u2019s ongoing controversy over the public display of cartoons depicting Islam\u2019s Prophet Muhammad and the government\u2019s general approach toward Islam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 9 am local time Thursday in Nice<\/a>, an assailant used a knife to kill three people, two women and a man, at the Notre-Dame Basilica. One of the women died inside the church, as did the man; the second woman \u201cfled to a nearby bar but was mortally wounded<\/a>,\u201d according to the AP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi told reporters he believes the attack was perpetrated by an Islamist extremist. \u201cHe cried \u2018Allah Akbar!\u2019 over and over, even after he was injured\u201d by police, Estrosi said. (\u201cAllahu akbar<\/a>,\u201d Arabic for \u201cGod is great,\u201d is a common expression used by Muslims, especially during prayers.) \u201cThe meaning of his gesture left no doubt,\u201d Estrosi added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suspect is now in custody and has been hospitalized<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two other incidents occurred on Thursday, the same day some Muslims observe Mawlid<\/a>, a celebration of the Prophet Muhammad\u2019s birthday. In Montfavet, also in southern France, a man was shot dead<\/a> after threatening police with a handgun; in Saudi Arabia<\/a>, a guard outside the French consulate in Jeddah was stabbed. The guard was hospitalized but his condition remains stable<\/a>, the French embassy in Riyadh said in a statement, and the suspect has been arrested.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Earlier this month, a suspected Islamist extremist beheaded Samuel Paty<\/a>, a 47-year-old secondary-school teacher, as he walked home from school. Days earlier, as part of a class discussion on freedom of speech, Paty had showed his 12- to 14-year-old students two caricatures<\/a> of Muhammad that had been published by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo<\/a> \u2014 the same images that inspired jihadists to kill 11 staff members<\/a> at the magazine and six others<\/a> in Paris in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police found a Twitter account<\/a> suspected of belonging to Paty\u2019s attacker that featured a picture of the severed head along with a message: \u201cI have executed one of the dogs from hell who dared to put Muhammad down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macron\u2019s government turned Paty into a freedom-of-expression hero<\/a>. At a national memorial for the slain teacher last week, Macron said France \u201cwill continue the fight for freedom\u201d and \u201cintensify\u201d efforts to end Islamist extremism in the country.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“French police raided numerous homes across the country as part of its probe into Paty\u2019s killing. About 15 people have been taken into custody, and 51 Islamic organizations are under investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aftermath of Paty\u2019s killing has rekindled a contentious debate in France about how to balance freedom of expression with respect for a religion.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2020\/10\/29\/21540186\/notre-dame-basilica-nice-france-knife-attack<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The killing of three people in southern France on Thursday has been deemed a terrorist attack by French officials \u2014 and it looks to be related to the country\u2019s ongoing controversy over the public display of cartoons depicting Islam\u2019s Prophet Muhammad and the government\u2019s general approach toward Islam.<\/p>\n

Around 9 am local time Thursday in Nice, an assailant used a knife to kill three people, two women and a man, at the Notre-Dame Basilica. One of the women died inside the church, as did the man; the second woman \u201cfled to a nearby bar but was mortally wounded,\u201d according to the AP.<\/p>\n

Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi told reporters he believes the attack was perpetrated by an Islamist extremist. \u201cHe cried \u2018Allah Akbar!\u2019 over and over, even after he was injured\u201d by police, Estrosi said. (\u201cAllahu akbar,\u201d Arabic for \u201cGod is great,\u201d is a common expression used by Muslims, especially during prayers.) \u201cThe meaning of his gesture left no doubt,\u201d Estrosi added.<\/p>\n

The suspect is now in custody and has been hospitalized.<\/p>\n

Two other incidents occurred on Thursday, the same day some Muslims observe Mawlid, a celebration of the Prophet Muhammad\u2019s birthday. In Montfavet, also in southern France, a man was shot dead after threatening police with a handgun; in Saudi Arabia, a guard outside the French consulate in Jeddah was stabbed. The guard was hospitalized but his condition remains stable, the French embassy in Riyadh said in a statement, and the suspect has been arrested.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Earlier this month, a suspected Islamist extremist beheaded Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old secondary-school teacher, as he walked home from school. Days earlier, as part of a class discussion on freedom of speech, Paty had showed his 12- to 14-year-old students two caricatures of Muhammad that had been published by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo \u2014 the same images that inspired jihadists to kill 11 staff members at the magazine and six others in Paris in 2015.<\/p>\n

Police found a Twitter account suspected of belonging to Paty\u2019s attacker that featured a picture of the severed head along with a message: \u201cI have executed one of the dogs from hell who dared to put Muhammad down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Macron\u2019s government turned Paty into a freedom-of-expression hero. At a national memorial for the slain teacher last week, Macron said France \u201cwill continue the fight for freedom\u201d and \u201cintensify\u201d efforts to end Islamist extremism in the country.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“French police raided numerous homes across the country as part of its probe into Paty\u2019s killing. About 15 people have been taken into custody, and 51 Islamic organizations are under investigation.<\/p>\n

The aftermath of Paty\u2019s killing has rekindled a contentious debate in France about how to balance freedom of expression with respect for a religion.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[414,1047,108],"class_list":["post-3737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-france","tag-islam","tag-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3738,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3737\/revisions\/3738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}