Four out of ten French people want the press to avoid publishing further cartoons that will “upset the Muslim community”, according to a poll published on Sunday.
While supporting the idea of freedom of expression, 42% of those quizzed in the Ifop poll for Le Journal du Dimanche said cartoons that made Muslims feel injured or threatened should be avoided.
However, a majority – 57% of those asked – said magazines and papers should be free to continue publishing cartoons whatever the reaction.
Traditional media was treated slightly more favourably than new media by those asked: 50% said there should be limits put on the freedom of expression on the internet, while 49% said there should be no restrictions.
Of those quizzed, 81% said French citizens convicted of terrorism who held dual nationality should have their French passports taken away, 68% believed French citizens taking part in Islamist fighting [terrorism] abroad should not be allowed to return to France, and 68% believed would-be jihadis wishing to leave France should be prevented from doing so.
A majority were against any further French military intervention in Syria, Yemen or Libya, or the intensifying of existing military operations in Iraq.
Brothers Saïd and Chérif Kouachi who carried out the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine killing 12 people, have been buried in their home towns. No decision has yet been made over the burial of Amédy Coulibaly, who killed a police officer and four Jewish men at a kosher supermarket.
Chérif Kouachi, was buried just before midnight on Saturday, under tight security at a cemetery in Gennevilliers, where he used to live, officials said.
No relatives attended the funeral and the grave was unmarked to avoid it becoming “a pilgrimage site” for Islamist militants [that means Muslim terrorists], the official said.
“His wife did not wish to take part in the funeral. He did not have anyone. It was extremely calm,” the official added.
Chérif Kouachi’s widow had asked for both brothers to be buried in the cemetery at Gennevilliers, about five miles northwest of central Paris, but the local mayor Patrice Leclerc blocked the request since Saïd, the older brother, was not a resident of the area.
Leclerc said he had “no legal choice but to allow the burial of Chérif Kouachi to go ahead”.
Saïd Kouachi was buried the previous night in the north-eastern town of Reims, where he had lived for around two years.
His funeral was held under heavy police protection and with a handful of family members present, according to a well-informed source.
His widow decided not to attend the burial in order to keep it secret, said her lawyer Antoine Flasaquier.
“She is now relieved that her husband has been buried with discretion and dignity,” Flasaquier said.
Under French law, relatives must request permission for a burial from the local town hall, which has to be granted if the individual lived or died in the area, or has a family burial plot there.
[The Guardian]
