So a while back this guy during a protest shouted 'Fuck the king, fuck the queen, fuck the monarchy'. Then it turns out he got fined €500 for lèse majesté (although after arguments from his lawyer and public/political outcry, combined with the fact that almost every expert doubts that he would get convicted by a judge, the case is currently on hold). Now first of all this is clearly a ridiculous law, what I would call a remnant from the old days. Now there are some arguments for it (including that the king/queen cannot defend themselves like normal people, as the government is responsible for their actions and not them), but frankly I don't think those weigh up against the freedom of speech. Plus it is unfair if you ask me that people are more protected by law because of who their parents are (in fact, public figures should be more open for criticism) - your average citizen could also sue someone for slander, defamation, etc., but the punishment for that is lower.

But to be honest, what annoys me even more, is that only a few months ago when a satirical magazine whose job it was to insult others was attacked by muslims, we were all Charlie, and freedom of speech (and to criticize anyone) was the most important thing. But now a vocal muslim activist does that, and a lot of people who were 'Charlie' now say he should be punished (or fuck off to his own country...), and somehow I doubt that's just because he insulted 'our' king, but because he isn't white.


BTW previous recent use of the law that I'm aware of that ended up in a conviction were combined with other facts (i.e. a guy who besides the queen also insulted police officers in function, made a nazi salute, etc., got a fine), or physical attack (i.e. a guy who threw something at the queen, though even in that case the reaction by the justice department was overblown).