Man fined for insulting French flag

[twazzock]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12069307
WTF?

Discuss.

[SplatSpeed]

Soft, Strong and throughly absorbant!

[eldar]

I fart in its general direction.

[RacerMDR]

brilliant - should have more of that in this country. It is about time guests of a country respected the country they have lucked into living in.

[crankedup]

Need legislation in order to protect the National flag, best its applied here then.

[eldar]

crankedup said:

Need legislation in order to protect the National flag, best its applied here then.

Which flag? EU, Country or GB. Are we so insecure we need yet another duplicate law to appease the wind up victims?

[chris watton]

..But it's perfectly OK, in the name of free speech, of course, for other groups to publicly burn British flags?

Is France a special case?

[hornet]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBCkm9-LvRg

Same logic applies in my mind.

[Dogwatch]

Is that the country run by that funny little man with high heels and an inferiority complex?

[550Hep]

I found a French military rifle on Ebay... Description was "Dropped once never fired"

[Saddle bum]

In view of their disapproval of the Nation State, I'm surprised the EU allows such a law. Perhaps they will recind it.

[glazbagun]

fk that. In this case, I'd charge him with property damage and threatening behavior, but we've already got enough left wing authoritarianism in this country without the right telling me what I'm not allowed to do, too.

[ShadownINja]

I quite like France. They seem to have a strong sense of national pride and it appears they don't take st from foreigners. Do you think if I moved to France they'd pay for an English interpreter? Exactly.

Edited by ShadownINja on Thursday 23 December 20:45

[Jasandjules]

I am in two minds.

In some respects, freedom of speech, but on the other hand, a flag is a symbol of the nation, so expect it to be p***ed off if you insult it.

[FourWheelDrift]

The Yanks went mad when a Mexican in Reno flew a Mexican flag above a US flag on his shop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoeqlTDPyTY

We're too soft here.

[voyds9]

FourWheelDrift said:

The Yanks went mad when a Mexican in Reno flew a Mexican flag above a US flag on his shop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoeqlTDPyTY

We're too soft here.

Roll on the olympics where our flag is 5th. Swells my chest with pride.

Isn't the order something like.

Olympic flag
French flag
Gay rights
Friends of the Earth
Union flag

[Mojocvh]

ShadownINja said:

I quite like France. They seem to have a strong sense of national pride and it appears they don't take st from foreigners. Do you think if I moved to France they'd pay for an English interpreter? Exactly.

Edited by ShadownINja on Thursday 23 December 20:45

Please do.

[Mojocvh]

"Frustrated by a bureaucratic delay"

And that's being polite, you "Anglais" have NO idea of the power of ANY French administrator.

"The offending picture which triggered the decree won a prize in a photo contest in Nice in March."

Now just what does THAT tell you??

Edited by Mojocvh on Thursday 23 December 22:53

[Conian]

SplatSpeed said:

Soft, Strong and throughly absorbant!

King and Country magazine?

[EDLT]

Have I read that wrong, or did they see the picture, allow it to win a prize, then after some outrage from Le Daily Mail they change the law allowing them to fine the bloke who was given a reward for his work months earlier?

I think I'll stick with the UK, where you can't be prosecuted for offences that were legal at the time you committed them.