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The next edition of Charlie Hebdo is set to come out on February 25. A good maxim for those in the UK who are considering making a purchase is “buyer beware.”

UK cops seek information on those who purchased Charlie Hebdo magazine



It is simply Orwellian. Despite many in the free world standing up for freedom of speech and proudly proclaiming “Je suis Charlie,” some police forces in the United Kingdom have been questioning newsagents and demanding the names and details of those who purchased the magazine.
The edition of Charlie Hebdo in question was the one put out after the massacre of Charlie Hebdo employees in a terrorist attack in Paris on January 7. The actions of the police came to light when a letter to the editor was published in The Guardian on Sunday. The letter, written by Anne Keat, said that two days after she received her copy, police in Wiltshire went to her newsagent to get the names of the four people who purchased that edition of Charlie Hebdo. The Daily Mail reports, lists of the newsagents were handed over to the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) at the request of ACPO. The information was provided to ACPO by John Menzies who is the British distributor of Charlie Hebdo. Menzies denied providing information to the police but that was contradicted by the Wiltshire Police who later issued an apology. The ACPO claims all it wanted to do was to have a list of shops where the magazine was sold. The information was given to anti-terrorism officials so they could watch for any repercussions to these shops in the wake of selling copies of Charlie Hebdo. Officers were supposed to visit the shops and tell the owner and employees to call 999 (the UK equivalent of 911) if they believe they are in danger resulting from the sale of the controversial magazine as if they weren’t bright enough to know that without being told.

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The ACPO further clarified they were not seeking any information about the people who actually purchased the legal publication. On Monday, the Wiltshire police issued an apology to the purchasers of the magazine. They said a police officer was sent around solely as a matter of public safety to tell newsagents to be vigilant, although police were unaware of any specific threat. The release further says the officer’s job was to enhance public safety and the department is confident that the safety of the public was the police officer’s sole intention. The Wiltshire police apologized to those concerned and advised that the information gathered about the magazine’s purchasers have been destroyed. It might have been simply an error made by one not-to-bright cop if the gathering of buyers’ names happened only in Wiltshire. But it is now known that two other police forces did the very same thing. Paul Merrett, a newsagent in Wales who sold 30 copies of the Charlie Hebdo edition, says police questioned him and his wife for about half an hour asking among other things, details concerning the purchasers of the magazine. His wife thought they were in trouble for selling it. As in Wiltshire, the police said they were only concerned with public safety although it is difficult to see what threat those who bought Charlie Hebdo posed. A woman in Cheshire said the Cheshire police telephoned a newsagent because they understood he was selling the Charlie Hebdo magazine. The newsagent did not sell them generally but did order a copy for the woman’s husband. As in the other two jurisdictions, the police made enquiries about the purchaser. It strains credulity that three separate police forces acting on the alleged grounds of public safety thought it necessary to gather personal information on people who did nothing other than purchase a legal although politically incorrect magazine. At a minimum it shows these police forces have way too much time on their hands. At a maximum, it shows a complete disregard for innocent peoples’ privacy and rights. Telling sellers of Charlie Hebdo that there may be ramifications from those sales is hardly telling them something they did not know. If three distinct police forces believed knowing who purchased Charlie Hebdo was necessary to protect the public, are there others who are also seeking this information? Is this happening in other democratic countries outside of the UK? This can be seen as nothing other than an attempt to intimidate people into not buying Charlie Hebdo in order to appease those of a certain religious persuasion who don’t like the publication and have been known to get a tad violent. So much for freedom. So much for “Je suis Charlie.” The next edition of Charlie Hebdo is set to come out on February 25. A good maxim for those in the UK who are considering making a purchase is “buyer beware.”


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Arthur Weinreb -- Bio and Archives

Arthur Weinreb is an author, columnist and Associate Editor of Canada Free Press. Arthur’s latest book, Ford Nation: Why hundreds of thousands of Torontonians supported their conservative crack-smoking mayor is available at Amazon. Racism and the Death of Trayvon Martin is also available at Smashwords. His work has appeared on Newsmax.com,  Drudge Report, Foxnews.com.

Older articles (2007) by Arthur Weinreb


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