Extremists open fire at Paris satirical newspaper, kill 12

[mama cass]

an informed article on the situation facing the Jewish community in France, very long but well worth the read for the historical context:

The threat to France’s Jews | Natasha Lehrer | News | The Guardian

the current situation is very much a sectarian problem between the Muslim and Jewish communities here, whereas "old-school" antisemitism is (thankfully) declining, is associated with the far right stupids, and is punished very harshly by the government, so to tar a whole country with the antisemitic brush and call us hypocritical is quite odious.

President Hollande came under fire recently for attempting to ban Pro-Palestinian protests in Paris, due to fear of violent clashes on French soil, saying he did not wish to bring outside wars into France, as our different communities should live together peacefully, united by the primordial French value of "laicite" (secularism) (which i know is difficult for nations like the US and UK which embrace "multiculturalism" to understand), but it is these outside conflicts that are threatening to tear apart the Jewish and Muslim communities in France

Manuel Valls (Prime Minister)

has said many times – most recently with extraordinary and moving passion at the Assemblée Nationale – the destiny of the Jews of France is inextricably tied up with that of France itself: “Without the Jews of France, France will no longer be France … When the Jews of France are under attack, France is under attack, and universal values are under attack.”

hope this is a better effort Diemen - next time i will wait a few hours so as to cool off before responding to a post like that, but as the only person in this thread who lives in France, and given the recent events here with everything the country stands for under attack, i took great offence to the unfair, uninformed and incorrect assumptions in that post

[cobl04]

Hostages taken in a Paris post office.

[mama cass]

Yep, apparently all now freed and gunman has surrendered to police... Not clear whether it was just an armed robbery attempt or connected to last week's events, but whatever it was tensions are running high here especially with the latest events in Belgium and more suspects also arrested by French police last night...

[Galeongirl]

So Belgium just managed to prevent an attack by arresting one returned Syria warrior and killing two. shit's getting awfully close. Either us or Germany will be next.

[mama cass]

yeah, it's very worrying indeed...

i just read a couple of very sobering articles

'Religion of peace' is not a harmless platitude » The Spectator

France must reach out to disillusioned young Muslims, says director of The Class | World news | The Guardian

some of the responses by French-Muslim schoolchildren are a bit alarming...

[mama cass]

holy shit

Four dead in Niger as Charlie Hebdo cartoon sparks protests | World news | The Guardian