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| Dieudonné M’bala M’bala |
The activist and performer says he wants to leave France permanently because his opportunities to work are being obstructed.
“Freedom of expression no longer exists for people like me here [in France],” he told Turkey’s official news agency Anadolu.
“The Prime Minister of France has done everything so that I cannot organise shows in this country.”
The 55-year-old’s performances were banned in France following at least seven convictions for inciting racial hatred against Jews.
The quenelle salute he has helped promoted was interpreted by authorities nearly a decade ago as an inverted Nazi salute.
The gesture became more widely recognised after it was used by the footballer Nicolas Anelka, a friend of the comedian, during a goal celebration for West Bromwich Albion in 2013.
Anelka received a five-match ban and was sacked by the club, ending his career in top-level football.
Dieudonné told Anadolu this week that he will make a political asylum request to Turkey as soon as he completes legal formalities and that he will also write an open letter to the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“I think I will be feeling better and more comfortable in Turkey than in France.”
The French comedian’s YouTube account was one of 25,000 removed by the video-sharing website last year for violating its hate speech rules.
He was subsequently banned from Facebook and Instagram.
Dieudonné, who denies being antisemitic, blamed “Israeli pressures” for the removal.
Source: Jewish news
Photo: Dieudonné M’bala M’bala / Photograph: Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images
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