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Breitbart London reported in 2016 on the curious case of German television comedian Jan Böhmermann, who used his show to take aim at Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, mocking the Islamist for his treatment of journalists and minorities. This has been used - and some have claimed, abused - by the German government in recent years against even artists who have satirised foreign leaders. These laws are part of a suite of laws in Germany where the government claims a monopoly on organising relations with foreign nations, with private citizens banned from a range of actions, ranging from burning flags to even insulting foreign politicians. The report notes the change of the law closes a loophole in the German penal code, and means the EU flag now has equal protection to national flags. Quite the opposite, in fact, as she said flag burning fuels “hatred, anger and aggression” and “hurts the feelings of many people”, reports German newspaper Die Presse. Speaking in support of the change, Angela Merkel’s justice minister Christine Lambrecht said burning a flag could not be a peaceful protest, and therefore should not be protected. But if a private individual purchased a flag and set fire to it, that would not be a problem - until now. Previously it had been a crime to burn a publicly displayed flag if, for instance, a foreign embassy was attacked. Man in Court for Facebook Post Threatening to Burn Islamic State Flag /WD7Syy99wj In the end, only the AfD voted against the ban, citing “excessive interference with freedom of expression”.
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Various parties opposed the proposal at the time, including Die Linke (The Left Party), and the populist-right Alternative fur Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) who insisted that as the European Union is not a state, it does not deserve to be protected as one. Fabian Jacobi of the AfD said the real purpose of the law was to make “citizens to think twice about whether they dared to publicly criticize the EU”, the report stated. Reporting at the time, Germany’s Deutsche Welle noted strong controversy around the subject, with some members insisting the burning of flags is a legitimate form of political speech and to ban it would be a curb on freedom of expression. The vote follows months of debate on the law, and a previous session in parliament on protecting the EU flag from physical expressions of criticism in January. Punishments for contraventions of the law range from a fine or even a prison sentence of up to three years.
#Burning the gay flag a hate crime code
The national parliament voted on Thursday to amend the criminal code to protect the European Union flag from being destroyed, damaged, or defaced.