Now Charlie Hebdo at Queen’s WILL go ahead

In a dramatic u-turn, QUB’s previously cancelled Charlie Hebdo symposium will now go ahead.

The University has reversed its initial decision to cancel the event, which it did so on security grounds citing “risk for delegates and about the reputation of the university.”

Following criticism from novelists, poets, academics and intellectuals over the cancellation of the conference, Queen’s has decided the event will go ahead.

In a statement released on Friday, a spokesperson for the university said: “Following the completion of a comprehensive risk assessment, undertaken in line with approved protocols, the university is pleased to confirm that the Charlie Hebdo Research Symposium, organised by the Institute for Collaborative Research in the Humanities, has been approved.”

Jason Walsh, the Irish correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor and Oxford University philosophy professor Brian Klug were among those condemning the cancellation by Queens, suggesting the University was more interested in not offending students than any actual risk.

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Robert McLiam Wilson, the Belfast-born novelist who writes for Charlie Hebdo, said he was “delighted and pretty proud that QUB have done the hardest thing there is to do, they changed their minds.

“There will be a conference now. Something which is pretty lengthy and often boring. But complexity and truth often is lengthy and boring. It is not best served by Twitter tempests and Wikipedia wisdom. If we take the time for respectful discourse, information and opinion can be shared, and who knows, maybe even some approximation of truth can be found.”

The move has also been welcomed by Patrick Corrigan, the director Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland.

He said: “The decision by Queen’s to give the go-ahead to the Charlie Hebdo event is clearly the right one. The original decision by the university to cancel the event generated significant public outcry, because people care passionately about this issue.”