Marine Le Pen goes on trial charged with anti-Muslim hate speech

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Marine Le Pen goes on trial charged with anti-Muslim hate speech

Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Tuesday 20 October 2015 10.44 BST

Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right Front National, has appeared in court in Lyon on hate speech charges after she compared Muslims praying in the streets to the Nazi occupation.

Four anti-racism and human rights groups have brought a case against her on charges of “incitement to discrimination, violence or hatred towards a group of people on the basis of their religion”.

The trial begins on Tuesday and it is the first time Le Pen has faced charges for hate speech, although her father and party founder, Jean-Marie Le Pen, has several convictions under the charge, including one for contesting crimes against humanity after saying the Nazi occupation of France was not “particularly inhumane”.

Le Pen made her comments in a speech during a party rally in Lyon in 2010. She referred to “street prayers” after there had been reports of Muslims praying in public in three French cities, including Paris, because of a lack of mosques or a lack of space in local prayer rooms.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/20/marine-le-pen-trial-charged-anti-muslims-hate-speech

[BeyondGeography]

1. That'll solve, uh, nothing

Other than boost the intensity of her support. She looks pleased as punch in that photo.