Banned comic makes quenelle to Queen

CONTROVERSIAL comic Dieudonné M'bala M'bala responded to a ban on his travelling to Britain by performing his infamous “quenelle” gesture, widely seen as a neo-Nazi sign, on stage “for the Queen”.

The 47-year-old performed the gesture while on stage in the Swiss town of Nyon, near Geneva, yesterday hours after the British Home Office said that he would not be allowed into the UK.

"We can confirm that Mr Dieudonné is subject to an exclusion order. The Home Secretary will seek to exclude an individual from the UK if she considers that there are public policy or public security reasons to do so," a Home Office statement said.

The order states that he will be denied entry at the UK border if he tries to enter the country. Anyone caught trying to help him enter Britain could face a £10,000 (€12,000) fine.

Exclusion orders forbidding entry to the UK are rarely used. They have applied in recent years to American extremist pastor Terry Jones and anti-Islamic political bloggers Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, all of whom had been invited to speak at far-right English Defence League rallies.

Dieudonné had previously announced he would visit London to support Premier League footballer Nicolas Anelka, who faces a ban for performing the “quenelle" salute on the pitch, which is believed by some to be an anti-semitic gesture.

Dieudonné claims to have invented the gesture but denies it has any anti-Semitic or racist meaning, describing it as simply « anti-establishment ».

Anelka has also insisted he is “neither anti-semitic or racist”.

In an interview with Sky News, Dieudonné declared his support for Anelka on January 23.

He said: "I consider him a brother in humanity. We're all in this together, we're all behind him. We are especially proud of him, he is a prince for us.”

The comedian has been banned from performing in several French cities as authorities probe whether he should face charges for breaking French laws against "inciting racial hatred".

Last week, French police seized €650,000 and $15,000 in cash during a raid on his house as part of a probe into suspected fraud.

Authorities are trying to force Dieudonné to pay more than €65,000 in fines related to his convictions and suspect that he was planning to fraudulently declare himself bankrupt.

• The quenelle: when did a French dumpling dish become linked to a neo-Nazi gesture? See the February’s print edition of The Connexion on sale in newsagents across France now.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Copyleft