L’Univers, a Lille cinema, denounces lies and will file a complaint against X for cyberharassment following a controversy linked to the cancellation of an evening planned for January. The Republican Spring wanted to organize a commemoration evening for the 10th anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks.
The Lille cinema L’Univers has decided not to host an evening that the Printemps Republican wanted to organize in January, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the jihadist attack against Charlie Hebdo.
In a press release, the Printemps republican Hauts-de-France assured that the cinema l’Univers had “given its agreement in principle” for this event, initially scheduled for January 11, 2025. However, the board of directors of the cinema is ultimately reconsidered this decision at a meeting held on November 21.
“Controversial positions”
The Council recalls that “only member associations can program within the cinema”, and that the request for exemption made by the Republican Spring, which does not adhere to it, was refused.
The brand’s board of directors cites security reasons. In a press release, the cinema considers that the Republican Spring was an association “with controversial positions”, “arousing numerous controversies in the public space” and which could “be a source of excesses or even disturbances to public order”.
The collective had planned to invite “several speakers living under constant police protection, requiring a service of order and security that the Cinema l’Univers is not able to provide”, he added.
A complaint against X for cyberharassment
“No attempt to force a non-member association, or even pressure from a political movement on the programming of the L’Univers cinema, can be tolerated.” The board of directors denounces, for its part, “a lying letter from the Hauts-de-France representative of the Printemps republican”.
In a press release, the association wrote that the cinema’s refusal was motivated by the fact that Isabelle Cottenceau’s documentary film “God Can Defend Himself Alone”, which the organization wished to broadcast, and that Charb’s drawings were “tendentious”. What the cinema board of directors refutes.
Furthermore, the cinema l’Univers indicated that it had filed a complaint against X for cyberharassment after “numerous insulting messages” on social networks.
This refusal created a controversy and was commented on by elected officials, including the Minister of the Interior who considered the decision “scandalous”. “The ‘No Wave’ is always a defeat against Islamism,” he reacted on X.
Regional president Xavier Bertrand (LR), who said he was “outraged” by the cancellation, indicated on X that he had “proposed to Printemps Républicain that the Hauts-de-France Region host this event”.
