End of February is a carnival season for many European towns and cities, time to get together and celebrate. ALDE is however concerned about reports showing that this festive tradition may be used to spread messages of hate.
“Today we call on the organisers of festivities, on political and cultural leaders, on European opinion makers to send a clear signal: messages of hate, antisemitism and homophobia will not pass, even under a carnival disguise. Our democratic societies are well equipped to counter such tendencies in legal terms. But we also need to make sure that fellow citizens are not fooled and mislead by groups preaching hate and intolerance behind the mask. We also alert colleagues on the PACE Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination to pay attention to this dimension of acts of hate in our societies,” declared ALDE-PACE President Jacques Maire.
