France Church Attack: Twitter deletes former Malaysian PM's tweet for glorifying violence

In the light of recent terror attacks in France, Twitter deleted former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s tweet for violating its rules banning the glorification of violence on Thursday, October 29. Shortly after a knife-wielding man launched a deadly attack in the French city of Nice, Mahathir, in a series of tweets said that Muslims had the right "to kill millions of French people." 

In an extraordinary outburst, the former Malaysian PM criticised French President Emmanuel Macron and said that France has killed millions of people in the course of its history, many of whom were Muslims.

The former Malaysian PM had lashed out at Macron for being "very primitive" in blaming Islam and Muslims for the killing of the "insulting school teacher". In a series of 13 tweets, the 95-year-old leader said that the boycott cannot compensate for the "wrongs" committed by the French all these years. 

READ: France Church Attack: UN Chief Antonio Guterres Condemns 'heinous' Knife Attack In Nice

Mahathir’s tweets sparked a social media outrage. France’s Secretary for Digital Sector Cedric O also condemned the post and urged Twitter to suspend the account of the former Malaysian Prime Minister. Cedric said that if Twitter does not suspend the account then it would be an "accomplice" to a formal call for murder. 

According to ANI, the social media platform had first labelled Mahathir’s tweet with a disclaimer stating that the posting violated its rules. However, the networking site did not delete the tweet because it was in the public interest. Twitter then deleted the particular post in question but left the remains of the Twitter threat intact. 

READ: 'India Stands With France In Fight Against Terrorism': PM Modi Reacts To Nice Attack

France church attack 

The attack in Nice, on October 29, has left three people dead. The French media reported that one of the three victims was brutally beheaded by the attacker, who has now been arrested. Apart from the three deceased, several others have been injured in the incident. Christian Estrosi, the Mayor of Nice has come forward to reveal that the attacker, shouted "Allahu Akbar" while he was being restrained by the French Police. Taking to Twitter, Estrosi termed the incident as "a terrorist attack", calling for an end to "fascism" in the country.

Thursday’s attack comes during heightened tensions in the country over radical Islamist, secularism and freedom of speech. The attack also comes amid the rising tensions between France and Islamic countries over the recent beheading of a French teacher who showed cartoons of Prophet Muhammad in class. According to reports, the teacher was brutally decapitated in a similar manner.

(Image Credits: AP) 

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