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Hollande vows tougher crackdown on hate speech

French President François Hollande announced a reinforcement of measures against expressions of racial or anti-Semitic hatred during the annual dinner of the French Representative Council of Jewish Institutions (CRIF) on Monday night.

François Hollande and the CRIF President Roger Cukierman in Paris on 23 February 2015.
François Hollande and the CRIF President Roger Cukierman in Paris on 23 February 2015. REUTERS/Etienne Laurent
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Representatives of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) boycotted the dinner in reaction to some controversial remarks by the CRIF’s Chairman Roger Cukierman.

Cukierman had sparked debate by saying that with regards to anti-Semitism, “every act of violence today is committed by young Muslims”.

Hollande is to meet jointly Tuesday afternoon with Cukierman and Dalil Boubakeur, the CFCM’s president.

“There is no ordinary anti-Semitism,” Hollande declared Monday night, saying it was a “canker” that “is still there 70 years after the Shoah”, and that “France will strongly fight against it”.

The president also said Prime Minister Manuel Valls would present a “wide-ranging and concrete” plan of action in the following days.

“Faster and more effective sanctions” will be taken. Hollande also said he wished that “any expression of hatred, racism, anti-Semitism or homophobia should come under criminal law instead of press freedom law”.

Hollande added that the government would strengthen the legal tools against people tempted to join the Jihad.

The president also insisted on the importance of the fight against terrorism at a European level and welcomed the implementation “by the end of the year” of the Passenger Name Record (PNR), the passenger flight data-sharing scheme.

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