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From the insides of Business Insider
As a huge fire took hold of Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral on Monday evening, alt-right figures were in no time spreading rumours and disinformation on social media linking the blaze to Muslims and hinting at a sinister cover up.
French officials on Monday night were quick to say that arson was unlikely to be the cause of the blaze as it engulfed the roof of the 12th century cathedral, but far-right activists and propagandists were already all over social media channels pushing conspiracies.
Conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec compared the blaze to 9/11, despite no link having made to terrorism by French officials, while alt-right activist Faith Goldy falsely claimed that three days previously "a Muslim jihadis [sic] in Paris was arrested for planning a terrorist attack at Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Funny, there was this little AC scurrying about here on SN yesterday, saying things like this.
- https://soylentnews.org/breakingnews/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=31108&page=1&cid=830165#commentwrap
- https://soylentnews.org/breakingnews/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=31108&page=1&cid=830026#commentwrap
...but well countered here, also by an AC:
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Police have begun questioning workers who were carrying out renovations at the cathedral. The Paris prosecutor's office has opened an inquiry into "involuntary destruction by fire", indicating they believe the cause of the blaze was accidental rather than criminal.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/notre-dame-fire-cause-everything-know-cathedral-paris/
The Paris prosecutor's office said it was treating the fire as an accident, ruling out arson and possible terror-related motives, at least for now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 17 2019, @05:38PM (2 children)
There are a few of things very telling about this:
1) No one has claimed "responsibility," which makes Islamic terrorism very unlikely (as others have pointed out, ISIL et al are quick to claim credit for atrocities when they are terrorist related).
2) Who stands to benefit if this were terrorism, or blamed on Muslims? That's right, the same fascists who are currently tearing Europe apart. And of course their mentor: Vlad Putin.
3) This was a construction site. I have personal experience with water in my unit, as a result of a fire caused by a bunch of rags left lying around by builders in another unit, in an adjacent building. No arson, no terrorism, no nefarious Islamic or Right-wing plot, just a bunch of rags used to wipe up common solvents and chemicals used on a building site, left carelessly lying around. There are already indications this was an electrical fault; the investigation will confirm or refute that in the coming weeks or months.
I would rate the likelihood as follows:
1) By far the most likely: an accident, possibly born of negligence, probably related to the restoration project
2) Right-wing terrorism, carried out by fascists, Russian or other state actors trying to incite divisions, or a combination of the two.
3) By far the least likely (so unlikely in fact that it's hardly worth considering: Islamic terrorists. No one is claiming credit, which goes against decades of behavior and modus operandi. Even if someone were claiming credit, this would be unlikely without further evidence, but the fact that NO ONE is claiming credit is very, very telling.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 17 2019, @07:24PM
No no, but MOSLEMS!!!
Did I do it right? Here, just in case let me blow on my high frequency whistle.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 17 2019, @10:56PM
No one has claimed responsability because the perpetrators were "disappeared". Have you heard anything more about four Moslems with a drone being arrested since the official narrative was changed to "it was an accident, definitely not terrorism"? Unless we hear from those four individuals soon it is pretty clear what happened to them. #FreeTheFour