A recent controversy in France has to do with a gesture called the “quenelle” gesture. Comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala has made the gesture popular in his many performances since around 2005. As seen in the photo above, French soccer player Nicolas Anelka, who currently plays in England, made the gesture after scoring a goal on December 28.
The gesture according to some people is just made to show general discontent towards an issue, but opposition has another opinion. Some people consider the quenelle gesture to be anti-semetic and resembling the Nazi gesture made during World War II. The quenelle is technically an inverted form of the Nazi gesture. After some debate from French governments, officials have deemed the quenelle gesture as hate speech, which is against the French law.
I found it interesting and respectable that the French government has found this gesture to be hateful and disrespectful. It is encouraging to know that other countries are on the same track as the United States in equal rights for all religions.
Source:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2014/0107/Anti-Semitic-or-not-quenelle-gesture-shows-bigger-issues-in-France-video