French footballer Nicolas Anelka on Sunday strongly defended a controversial gesture he made during a weekend match, saying "I am neither anti-Semite nor racist", even as British football authorities mulled possible punishment.
The 34-year-old West Bromwich
Albion striker and former member of France's national team issued a
series of tweets rejecting claims that the gesture he made Saturday was
anti-Semitic or a thinly veiled Nazi-like salute, as many have
interpreted.
His response came
amid growing outrage online and internationally, and a risk that he
could face match suspensions if England's Football Association finds his
act racially offensive.
Anelka
argued in his tweets that the gesture -- in which he thrust his
straightened right arm downwards while tapping his bicep with the other
hand -- was merely "anti-establishment".
"I don't know what religion has to do with it. Of course I'm not an anti-Semite or racist and (I) stand by my gesture."
He
also called on "people not to be duped by the media" which were
"lumping together things and causing an argument without knowing what
the gesture really means".
Anelka
asserts the gesture was a dedication to a friend, a French comedian
named Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala who has made the salute -- which he calls a
"quenelle", meaning a meat or fish dumpling -- his signature.
Dieudonne,
as he is widely known, has made overtly anti-Jewish remarks in public
for years. He has been fined seven times for defamation, insult and
provocation to hate, and for racial discrimination.
People perform "quenelle" salutes outside the controversial French comic Dieudonne's t …
Diedonne claims his gesture only
reflects his anti-establishment views, although it is widely interpreted
as a Nazi-style or anti-Semitic action in France.
Controversial French comedian Dieudonne delivers a speech
prior to the premiere of his movie "A …
Anelka himself has marred his career with tantrums and controversial remarks. The footballer converted to Islam in 2004.
Condemnation in France
The Football Association told AFP Sunday that it would investigate the incident to determine if Anelka should be punished.
He could face a minimum five-ban match under a new anti-discriminatory disciplinary measures introduced in May.
French authorities have already condemned Anelka's on-field gesture.
French
Sports Minister Valerie Fourneyron on Saturday called it a "shocking,
sickening provocation" and said there was "no place for anti-Semitism
and inciting hatred on the football pitch".
Interior Minister Manuel Valls is
considering whether to ban all public appearances by Dieudonne. Valls
said Dieudonne was "no longer a comedian" but was rather an "anti-Semite
and racist" who fell afoul of national laws against incitement to
racial hatred.
President Francois Hollande said Valls was doing the right thing.
"We
must approve and support the government and the interior minister in
the face of words or actions whose anti-Semitic character cannot be
denied," he told journalists during a visit to Saudi Arabia.
The
European Jewish Congress has also criticised Anelka and called for him
to face the same punishment that would be handed down for a Nazi salute.
"It
is sickening that such a well-known footballer would make such an
abusive and hateful gesture in front of tens of thousands of
spectators," European Jewish Congress president Moshe Kantor said.
"There
should be no room for such intolerance and racism in sports and we
expect that the English Premier League officials as well as the police
will give Anelka the appropriate punishment."
The
latest to join the chorus of condemnation was the head imam of the
Great Mosque of Paris who said Sunday he "strongly condemned any act or
words of an anti-Semitic or racist nature in the sporting world."
Dalil Boubakeur said the "quenelle" was a "hybrid gesture between a Nazi salute and an inverted 'up yours' sign."
He said sports should represent "the highly humanist and universal values of peace, friendliness and fraternity."
The Union of Jewish Students in France also attacked Anelka's "cowardly support" for Dieudonne.
The
comedian at the heart of the controversy meanwhile thanked Anelka in a
tweet Sunday, saying "Bravo to Anelka for his 'quenelle'. Magnificent!!"
But Dieudonne added that the quenelle was "not an anti-Semitic or Nazi sign".
Jean-Yves
Camus, an expert on the far-right, said in the Journal Du Dimanche
Sunday newspaper that the "quenelle" was for some simply an
"anti-establishment gesture" and for others "an anti-establishment
gesture against a Jewish plot".
Dieudonne
first used the "quenelle" publicly in 2009 while campaigning in the
European elections. Since then it has become his trademark and has been
widely reproduced on the Internet and social media, at venues ranging
from the "Asterix" theme park to the exterior of a synagogue.
Source: Yahoo
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