Widespread criticism of ‘Charlie Hebdo’ earthquake cartoon

For a lot of people in the earthquake-struck town of Amatrice, central Italy, the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is now on the blacklist.

In January of last year, Charlie Hebdo became a symbol for freedom of the press.

Following the Islamic fundamentalist attack on the magazine's office in Paris in which 12 of its journalists were killed, the slogan "Je Suis Charlie" went viral, as people defended the magazine's right to use heavy satire even in relation to the Prophet Mohammed.

Now, however, Charlie Hebdo has come in for widespread criticism for an earthquake cartoon, called "Earthquake Italian Style".

Making reference to the fact that Amatrice, where 230 of the 293 victims died, lends its name to the well known Roman pasta dish, “pasta all’amatriciana”, the cartoon depicts the earthquake victims as three types of pasta where the blood on their bodies might also be tomato sauce.

This clumsy cartoon has offended many Italians with public figures lining up to criticise the magazine.

Deputy Gianpiero D'Alia, president of the centrist UDC party, spoke for many when he said: "There is neither satire nor irony in the Charlie Hebdo cartoon, it is just a stupid insult against Italy and the earthquake victims. We all know the extreme editorial line of the French magazine and we all stood beside them after the brutal terrorist attack in January of last year but this does not stop us saying that today they have gone way beyond all good taste and all good sense, especially because of the respect we owe to the deaths of innocent people."

The cartoon in question appears on the back page of this week’s edition of the magazine, accompanied by a series of comments such as: “Approximately 300 dead in an earthquake in Italy. It is not known yet if the quake shouted ‘Allah Akbar’ before the tremor began.”

Mayor of Amatrice, Sergio Pirozzi also expressed his indignation, saying: "How can you do a cartoon on the dead. I am sure that this unpleasant and embarrassing cartoon does not correspond to true French sentiment . . ."