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They sure are strutting right up to the reigning world champions of effective street protest and sticking their chins out, aren’t they?

(Your username makes me hear the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer Krogan blood rage laugh, by the way)

Eat cake?

Every government seems to know the people won’t actually do that anymore. Peaceful protest was encouraged when the alternative was violence, but now that it’s not, it can be safely banned. The French are ironically a great example— they are notorious for their protests and revolution, yet when the government ignored them and raised retirement age, nothing happened.

I’m not saying this is good or bad, nor calling for action. It’s merely an observation. I further observe that perhaps this is the humanity tamed enough for governments to once again put the people last, but with the firepower to enforce it eternally. We need good people seeking public office to prevent this, and other solutions.

France does this because of Charlie Hebdo.

The US didn’t even do this over 9/11.

The French government fears unrest. Protests in France are not peaceful, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a highly sensitive subject.

I have been on the Palestine side since the beginning of its violent colonisation, but the Hamas attacked civilians, not warriors. It was an act of pure terrorism. Very reminiscent of the events in France on November 13, 2015, when terrorists attacked concert-goers at the Bataclan.

L for Liberté

Yeah Macron and his goons are out of control. I'm 45 yo and I've never seen a President that tyrannic and authoritarian, and he's self-proclaimed centrist. Even the right wing governments I've known never went that far. And it's not going to get any better.

Historic parties have been wiped out from existence in the last 10 years. There are three major parties left. The far-left run by a grumpy old egomaniac (Mélenchon) that ruins any chance of a left win. The center (Macron) which is definitely more right leaning than the historic Right party. The far-right (Lepen/Bardella) which is everything like the current US Republican Party, without the weirdos and outright liars (making it way more dangerous).

My country is an awful mess right now.

Sounds like the same way we still consider the US a democracy.

France is making a large part of its own defense system (fighter jet, navy ships, etc.) and for it to be financially viable, sells some models to other countries. One very good client is Saudi Arabia. You will never hear criticism from this government against Saudis.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

They have freedom of the press, but no freedom of speech they way it is guaranteed through the US constitution. in fact they have laws against hate speech and antisemitism.

They have a lot of things that can be set on fire. That's a form of free speech protection.

They shelled our peaceful protest in southern California with tear gas mortars. Peaceful protest isn't even de facto legal in the US.

Most European countries do have free speech protections, but with much more limitations than in the US. (IIRC the US would also not allow e.g. speech calling for a lynch mob, as long as it's specific enough.)

Various forms of hate speech, including support for terrorist organizations, are covered by those. Terrorist usually isn't just what the government dislikes; it usually requires (or is subject to review by) a court decision.

There are obvious arguments against such rules, but there are very few social benefits to letting people support literal child murdering terrorists, call for the lynching of certain groups of people, claim that the Holocaust never happened and should be repeated (sic), or just march up and down the street in Nazi uniforms showing off their right arms much to the dismay of any survivors, their descendants, and the people who would be next on the list.

The main risk is the government abusing its power to ban all anti-government protests. Europe has decided that this risk is small enough with all checks and balances in place to be worth the social benefit. The US has decided otherwise.

the good intentions are a pretense at best, the french governmenr is perfectly aware that criticism of zionism is not antisemitism

they dont want jewish folks to feel safe, they want palestinians to feel unsafe