Voice Of Post

French comedian arrested after 'Charlie' Facebook post, Among the 54 people detained Wednesday as France cracks down on hate speech, anti-Semitism and glorifying terrorism is Dieudonne, a controversial but popular comic who defended terrorism in comments posted on Facebook earlier this week.

Dieudonne, who popularized an arm gesture that resembles a Nazi salute and who has been convicted repeatedly of racism and anti-Semitism, is no stranger to controversy. His provocative performances were banned last year but he has a core following among France's disaffected youth.

In the Facebook post in question, which was swiftly deleted, the comic said he felt like "Charlie Coulibaly" — merging the names of Charlie Hebdo and Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who killed four at a kosher market Friday, a day after he killed a Paris policewoman.

In a separate post, the comic wrote an open letter to France's interior minister.

"Whenever I speak, you do not try to understand what I'm trying to say, you do not want to listen to me. You are looking for a pretext to forbid me. You consider me like Amedy Coulibaly when I am not any different from Charlie," he wrote.