236) Democracias punem pelos tribunais, não nas ruas...

Notícia extraída do jornal americano The Washington Post, deste sábado 25 de fevereiro de 2006, relativamente à "suspensão", por tribunal administrativo, do prefeito de Londres, em virtude de observações ofensivas contra repórter judeu e seu jornal.

Mayor of London Suspended 4 Weeks
Remarks to Jewish Reporter Bring Censure

By Kevin Sullivan and Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, February 25, 2006; A10

LONDON, Feb. 24 -- A disciplinary tribunal on Friday ordered London's outspoken mayor, Ken Livingstone, suspended for four weeks for causing "damage to the reputation of his office" by comparing a Jewish newspaper reporter to a concentration camp guard.

"His treatment of the journalist was unnecessarily insensitive and offensive," said the decision by the Adjudication Panel for England, an independent body that oversees the conduct of local officials. "The mayor does seem to have failed, from the outset of this case, to appreciate that his conduct was unacceptable."

The unusual punishment comes at a time when Britain, like Europe in general, is wrestling with the definitions and limits of free speech. Muslims around the world have angrily protested a Danish newspaper's publication of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. Many Muslims have argued that Europe has laws against denying the Holocaust but has no similar protections for Muslims.

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