Footage has emerged showing firebrand MP George Galloway condemning the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for producing “pornographic, obscene insults” against the Prophet Muhammad.
The Respect MP for Bradford West was speaking at a freedom of speech demonstration outside Bradford City Hall on Saturday.
Referencing the bloody France attacks which saw 17 people killed, Galloway said: “No person, no human being should be subjected to violence, still less death for anything that they have said, written or drawn.
George Galloway MP has spoken out against Charlie Hebdo
“So we condemn utterly the murder of 17 people in the events in Paris. But we will not allow this Charlie Hebdo magazine to be described as a king of loveable, anarchic, fun book of cartoons.
“These are not cartoons, these are not depictions of the Prophet, these are pornographic, obscene insults to the Prophet and by extension, 1.7billion human beings on this earth and there are limits.
“There are limits. There limits to free speech and free expression especially in France.”
Galloway described the newspaper’s purpose as “to further marginalize, further alienate and further endanger exactly those parts of the community who are already alienated, already endangered. It is a racist, Islamophobic, hypocritical rag.”
“Je ne suis pas Charlie Hebdo,” he declared.
The weekly publication has a history of drawing outrage across the Muslim world with crude cartoons of Islam’s holiest figure, resulting in the firebombing of its offices in 2011.
A year later, the magazine published more Muhammad drawings amid an uproar over an anti-Muslim film. The cartoons depicted Muhammad naked and in demeaning or pornographic poses. As outraged grew, the French government defended free speech even as it rebuked Charlie Hebdo for fanning tensions.
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Pope Francis said there was a duty to speak one’s mind for the sake of the common good, but added there were “limits.”
During his speech, Galloway went on to decry France’s ban on the public use of veils, both face-covering niqabs and full-body burqas, pointing out: “They can wear as little as they like, but they cannot wear as much as they like.”
Referencing the rampage carried out by Anders Breivik which saw 77 lost their lives, Galloway added: “Nobody blamed all Christians. Nobody demanded that Christians get down on their knees and apologise for the actions of a fascist murdering criminal and neither should they be doing so to the millions of Muslims in Britain.
“Crimes are carried out by criminals, not by their co-religionists or people of the same colour or nation as them.”