Already canceled in several cities, the show of the controversial humorist Dieudonné will not take place on September 14 at the Zénith de Paris, the prefect of police having decided to ban it because of “risks of serious disturbances to public order ” in view of his repeated anti-Semitic remarks according to Agence France-Presse, which quotes extracts from the prohibition order drafted by Laurent Nuñez.
This ban is in addition to those taken during the summer in Lyon, Toulouse, Besançon, Grenoble or Montpellier, where the humorist who has been convicted of racial abuse and incitement to hatred was to present his new show La Cage aux fous with antivax singer Francis Lalanne.
At the beginning of August, the prefect of police Laurent Nuñez had warned Dieudonné of this possibility of prohibition due in particular to “risks of serious disturbances to public order”, which he reiterated in the decree motivating his decision. In this letter, the prefect referred to “attacks on human dignity” in the content of the show. Several exchanges then took place between the police headquarters and the polemicist’s lawyer, in particular on the communication of the script for the show.
Rosh Hashanah Eve
In his banning order, Laurent Nuñez noted that it was “public knowledge that the content of the previous shows” of Dieudonné “apologized the discriminations, persecutions and exterminations perpetrated during the Second World War”. . He also considered that the “elements put forward by the lawyer” of the controversial comedian were “not such as to prevent the making of remarks undermining human dignity during the show and did not contribute. ] thus not sufficient guarantees on the absence of disturbances to public order”.
Laurent Nuñez also pointed out that in an article by Rivarol (a far-right press organ) dated August 29, Dieudonné had stigmatized “the Jewish lobby” by claiming to want to “fight this hateful and racist lobby”.
The chief of police also noted that the show was to take place the day before the Jewish community celebrates Rosh Hashanah, the new year in the Hebrew calendar, and “near a synagogue.” Dieudonné and Francis Lalanne have already tried to play La Cage aux fous at the Cirque d’hiver in Paris on April 7. From the end of April, the Zénith de Paris had alerted the public authorities, recalling that a ban was up to “only the competent authorities”.