HUNDREDS PROTEST AFTER FRENCH COMEDIAN'S SHOW CANCELLED OVER "NAZI JEW" SKIT
PARIS, Feb 21 (AFP) - Hundreds of demonstrators protested outside the Paris Olympia concert venue Friday in support of a French comedian whose show was cancelled after he performed a "Nazi Jew" skit on national television.
The Olympia announced Wednesday it was reimbursing the 1,500 tickets sold for the comic Dieudonne's show that was to have taken place Friday because of an apparently organised campaign of telephone calls and faxes opposing the performance.
Some were so threatening that the police advised the hall would be jeopardising public safety if it did not implement onerous security measures, including X-ray machines and bag checks for explosives.
Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala -- known simply as Dieudonne in France -- told Europe 1 radio on Friday; "this is the first time in France, I believe, that an artist has been banned from the stage like this".
"Free Dieudonne, freedom of expression," shouted the crowd outside the Olympia venue in central Paris, which blocked traffic on the street while the comedian held his arms aloft to salute his fans.
"There's a lot of people here, that is a great compensation to me," he told assembled reporters.
"The fact that today they have stifled the voice of a black man has great importance for these people. There's no need to censor people, you shouldn't be cut short the words of Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala and blacks in general," he added. "The real racism is against the blacks and the Arabs".
http://www.ttc.org/pa40221a.htm