Press review

What they said about ...

... The French hostages
  • The Guardian,



"The captors have taken democracy itself hostage," argued Pierre Fréhel in the regional Republicain Lorrain, because they were exploiting the inherent "weakness" of democracy in the face of terror: that "our laws are negotiable and voters can be bought over".

Michel Guilloux in L'Humanité detected a "certain fascism" in the terrorists' unwavering "deep hatred of democracy, and the rights of men, and particularly women, to freedom". He was encouraged by the reaction of French Islamic groups who "unanimously condemned the captors' demands".

Chesnot had worked for the Swiss Tribune de Geneve, which judged the "remarkable and unambiguous" reaction of French muslims to be "positive". Yet it was unsure whether this could make any difference. "What influence could it have on the Islamic Army in Iraq?" it asked. "It's impossible to say."

Today's best video

Today in pictures