Khairy: Charlie Hebdo unity rally ‘nauseating’

(Malay Mail Online) – The worldwide rally in solidarity with France over the Charlie Hebdo slayings was “nauseating“, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said today in yet tweet another against the French satirical weekly.

“I condemn again the Charlie Hebdo murders but the unity march was nauseating,“ he said on Twitter using his @Khairykj account.

About a hundred thousand people rallied worldwide in solidarity with France yesterday, with marchers across Europe and the Middle East chanting “Je suis Charlie” and holding pens in the air, following the attacks that killed 17 people, most at the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

People of diverse faiths including Christians, Muslims and Jews made up nearly four million people who took to the streets in unity marches across France alone.

The Malaysian youth and sports minister’s remark drew mixed responses from Twitter users.

“@Khairykj i find you nauseating. i vomited in my mouth, in your honour,“ said one Twitter user @eshxy.

Another user, William Calvin asked Khairy in jest as why he felt the rally was nauseating.

“Oh right. I forgot. Your party is racist,“ Calvin said.

A number of them agreed with the Umno minister — saying that there should be unity marches against Israel’s on-going persecution against the Palestinian people.

Last week, Khairy had mocked the need to protect “racist, xenophobic, bigoted” satire such as contained in the French satirical weekly.

“What happened in Paris, the murders, this of course is not Islam,” he had said.

Three suspected Islamists descended on the office of satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo on January 7 and gunned down 12 people including the magazine’s staff and police officers over its provocative depictions of Prophet Muhammad.

Altogether 17 victims have died along with the three hostage-takers since last Wednesday.