Tony Abbott tells Sydney Islamic protesters to ‘lighten up’

I think Abbott has a point:

The group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, planned to rally in south-west Sydney on Friday evening against the kind of images that proliferated in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo killings.

Abbott told 2GB he hoped there would be only a few protesters.

“Frankly I don’t think any of us really want to be in the business of insulting anyone, but on the other hand we all believe in free speech, and I have to say some people are a bit thin-skinned about free speech,” he said.

“I just hope the organisers of this protest lighten up a bit, and accept that in our robust democracy, a lot of people say a lot of things, and sometimes it’s right, sometimes it’s wrong, and we just have to accept the rough and the smooth together.”

A spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir likened Abbott’s comments to being asked to “discard the sacredness of our values”.

“It’s quite disingenuous to suggest a people, ie Muslims, lighten up over something that is provocative and quite derogatory to their core values and beliefs, the centre of which is obviously the prophet Muhammad,” he said.

Tony Abbott tells Sydney Islamic protesters to ‘lighten up’ | Australia news | theguardian.com.