Dominique Venner, who had links with France’s far-right nationalist party, killed himself in front of the altar inside the iconic church around 4pm local time on Tuesday. The death prompted the evacuation of the cathedral, which was housing around 1,500 people at the time of the shooting.”We just heard a loud sound, like a body falling from above,” an American tourist named Greg told AP.Before killing himself, Venner published an article on his website, in which he spoke out against France’s adoption of a “vile law” legalizing gay marriage and adoption. He urged activists to take measures to protect “French and European identities.”He also wrote “There will certainly need to be new, spectacular, symbolic gestures to shake off the sleepiness…and re-awaken the memories of our origins…we are reaching a time when words must be backed up with acts.” It is believed the statement was a potential reference to his suicide.The rector of the iconic cathedral, Patrick Jacquin, told AFP that Venner had laid a letter on the altar before killing himself. A police source said it contained similar writings to those on Venner’s website.”We did not know him, he was not a regular at the cathedral,” Jacquin said. He said that he believed it was the first time anyone had committed suicide inside the cathedral.Jacquin added that masses in the cathedral, which draws millions of visitors every year, were cancelled and that church staff would hold a vigil later on Tuesday.The suicide was hailed a political gesture by Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right Front National.”All respect to Dominique Venner whose final, eminently political act was to try to wake up the people of France,” Le Pen said on Twitter. She added later that “it is in life and hope that France will renew and save itself.”Venner, 78, had a long career of publishing right-wing essays, military histories, and books on weaponry and hunting. He was a soldier during France’s war in Algeria and was a member of the Secret Armed Organization – a former paramilitary group which opposed Algeria’s independence from France. His next book, titled “A Western Samurai” was set to be published in June.Venner’s death was the second suicide to take place in Paris in less than a week, after a 50-year-old with a history of family problems shot himself dead Thursday in a primary school near the Eiffel Tower. … Read More
Royal wedding fever hits Sweden
The Swedish royal family gathered in the Royal Chapel in Stockholm on Sunday for the publication of the banns of marriage ahead of the wedding of Princess Madeleine and her fiancé Christopher O’Neill. … Read More
Archbishop of San Francisco: Delaware marriage equality ‘a serious injustice’ to kids
Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco sharply criticized the state of Delaware on Wednesday, saying the state’s new marriage equality law would harm children. “The claim of this bill to redefine marriage is in vain; marriage cannot be redefined, because its unique meaning…
Minnesota on the verge of becoming 12th state to embrace marriage equality
The Minnesota House on Thursday afternoon approved legislation to legalize same-sex marriage, moving the state one step closer to embracing marriage equality. The state House voted 75-59 to extend the freedom to marry to same-sex couples with just two weeks left in the 2012 legislative session. The…
Same-sex marriage gains traction around world
While in Tokyo for the city’s first Rainbow Week, Boris Dittrich could not help but notice gay pride marchers with banners demanding marriage equality in the land of the rising sun. “I asked why and they said, ‘Well, we’ve seen what’s happening in other countries and…
Court slashes sentence in ‘honour killing’ case
A Swedish court has reduced a prison sentence for a 17-year-old boy found guilty of fatally stabbing his sister more than 100 times after she fled a forced marriage in what the court referred to as an “honour killing”. … Read More
Hollande anniversary marked by protests and record popularity slump
To express their discontent with Hollande’s policies, tens of thousands of leftists marched through Paris on Sunday. Police put the number of leftwing rally participants at 30,000, while the organizers claim the crowd was six times that figure.A major source of public anger is skyrocketing unemployment, the worst in years, with 3.2 million French now looking for work. And that’s just one of the factors which contributed to Hollande’s popularity plummet.The French are dissatisfied with the fact that the one who they hailed as a socialist hero could not deliver on many of his election promises.“We are here to tell him, Mr. President, time is up and you need to start changing things,” one protester, teacher Thibault Sans, told RT.Among those broken election promises was the 75 per cent income tax on the super rich. France’s Constitutional Court overruled it. While the very mention of it pushed French actor Gerard Depardieu to give up his French citizenship and accept a Russian passport.Hollande’s reputation was then hardest hit by news of his Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac confessing of having 600,000 euro hidden in a Swiss bank account. The situation became further aggravated when it became known former Socialist Party treasurer Jean-Jacques Augier had money invested in offshore companies.One thing Hollande supporters could be pleased with is his managing to keep promise on legalizing gay marriage. The fly in the ointment, though, is the law has sparked fierce confrontation and the topic is now being overshadowed by the country’s economic woes.“People are happy with gay marriage, but it doesn’t feed our families, it doesn’t give us food. There are realities that are good to say, but there are also priorities. The priority is employment. We need to eat!” one of the Paris protesters told RT.Experts believe Hollande should only blame himself for his sinking popularity – in his presidential bid he raised everybody’s expectations to a level that was simply too high. Failure to deliver on promises eventually cost him popularity.“It is obviously too easy to blame Francois Hollande. He has been elected a year ago only and obviously you cannot pretend that the new president immediately has achievements in terms of the economy. I just would like to get a president who is not making that much promises, which is keeping some key points, which is not going to explain that he has the magic recipe that no one has before,” Bruno Cautres, Researcher, Sciences PO told RT.The government is trying to save face by saying no one is abandoning the election promises.”We’ve sown seeds but they will need time to bear fruit because the land had been abandoned a long time. Our reforms are geared towards growth and investment, not just austerity. They will bear fruit little by little,” Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told TV channel TF1, as cited by Reuters.During his year in power Hollande saw his popularity surge only once – when France intervened in Mali. That intervention, though, was another breach of an election promise, according to Robert Harneis, a freelance reporter on French issues.“What he promised was to refocus NATO on defensive measures and he’s done more on the opposite by intervening in Mali and by his – initially at any rate – very aggressive stance on Syria and Iran. It’s very noticeable that he’s gone quiet on Syria and quiet on Mali, although the French have not withdrawn from Mali. I think that he thought that you know the traditional thing – if things are not going well at home you go for a bit of a stir abroad. That distracts attention and you look good, you look presidential,” Harneis told RT. The effect of Mali intervention on Hollande’s popularity was however not lasting. Now with the French economy wallowing in the recession mire, the country’s population can hardly be distracted from internal issues.For more on protests in France watch RT’s Tesa Arcilla’s report from Paris. … Read More
