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| Court overturns ban on French comic Dieudonne | Court overturns ban on French comic Dieudonne |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A French court has overturned a ban on a show by controversial comic Dieudonne M'bala M'bala due to be performed on Thursday night. | |
| The show in the city of Nantes will open Dieudonne's tour. | The show in the city of Nantes will open Dieudonne's tour. |
| He has seven convictions for anti-Semitic hate speech and his latest show is also said to contain a string of derogatory references to Jews. | |
| President Francois Hollande had urged French officials to enforce an order authorising the ban on the show. | President Francois Hollande had urged French officials to enforce an order authorising the ban on the show. |
| A statement from the court said it did not regard the show, entitled The Wall, as having "an attack on human dignity as its main object", the AFP agency reports. | |
| In a reflection of the comedian's popularity in spite of his notoriety, 5,000 tickets had already reportedly been sold for the Nantes performance. | |
| Thursday's court verdict is a big victory for Dieudonne, the BBC's Hugh Schofield reports from Paris. | |
| The French government has made a concerted effort to stop the comedian's new tour after Dieudonne was recorded making blatantly anti-Semitic remarks about a Jewish journalist. | |
| Dieudonne's lawyer said banning the show would be a clear breach of the principle of free expression, and that contrary to government claims, there was no evidence that his performances were a threat to public order. | |
| Controversial gesture | |
| On Monday, Interior Minister Manuel Valls said he had advised city mayors and police prefects that Dieudonne's show could be banned if it was deemed to present a threat to public order. | |
| He remains booked to play at a series of French venues until June, although the cities of Bordeaux and Marseille have cancelled his performances. | |
| The comic has quipped about gas chambers and is accused of deriding Holocaust survivors and victims. | |
| But he denies his trademark "quenelle" gesture is an inverted Nazi salute, instead describing it as an anti-establishment sign. | |
| It made headlines in the UK in late December when used by West Bromwich Albion footballer Nicolas Anelka during a goal celebration. | |
| The striker said the gesture had been "a dedication to Dieudonne", not an anti-Semitic salute. |