Controversial comic Dieudonné arrested for Facebook comments

Dieudonné posted this image on Facebook, showing police at his apartment

Having joined people marching on Sunday in protest at the terror attacks in Paris, Dieudonne wrote on Facebook: “Tonight, as far as I’m concerned, I feel like Charlie Coulibaly”, linking the “Je Suis Charlie” slogan that has been widely used to express support for the victims of the gun attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine with the name of another gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, who subsequently attacked a jewish supermarket.

The post, which also described the “historic march” as a “Magic moment equal to the Big Bang that created the universe”, was later taken down.

Prosecutors opened the case against him on Monday, and he was arrested on Wednesday for being “an apologist for terrorism.”

‘I propose peace’

In an open letter to the French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, Dieudonné said he was the victim of a “media lynching” and that he was being made “Enemy Number One just for wanting to make people laugh.” He insisted that he does support the French tribute to Charlie Hebdo, so that “we go on laughing at everything,” adding “I propose peace”.

Charlie Hebdo, which published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that many Muslims deemed disrespectful, prided itself on being offensive to almost everyone.

Read more: Charlie Hebdo sells out across France

Dieudonné has been fined several times in the past for defamation, insult and provocation to hate, and for racial discrimination.

In September last year the Paris prosecutor opened an investigation into the comic for “condoning acts of terrorism” after he released a video called “Foley fire” following the beheading of the American journalist James Foley by Islamic State militants.

In it he said “decapitation symbolises progress, access to civilisation”, adding “to progress, you cannot do without some sacrifices.”

Artistic domain?

In December 2013 the footballer Nicolas Anelka (pictured) found himself at the eye of a storm after he used an arm gesture made famous by Dieudonné.

Known as a “quenelle”, many critics believe that holding a straightened arm downwards while tapping the bicep with the other hand is merely a modified Nazi salute and therefore anti-Semitic. Others say it is merely an anti-establishment gesture, meaning “up yours”.

The French interior minister at that time, Manuel Valls, said he would try to legally ban public performances by Dieudonné, saying in a statement “despite a conviction for public defamation, hate speech and racial discrimination, Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala no longer seems to recognise any limits.”

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He also said that Dieudonné’s public gatherings “no longer belong to the artistic domain, but rather amount to a public safety risk.”