Facebook shuts down French shooter homage page

PARIS - Agence France-Presse

An undated and non-datelined frame grab from a video broadcast March 21, 2012 by French national television station France 2 who they claim to show Mohamed Merah. REUTERS Photo

Facebook yesterday removed a page that paid homage to the young Frenchman who died in a shootout with police after killing seven people, officials said.
 
French interior ministry officials said the ministry had asked the social networking site to remove the page that went up shortly after Mohamed Merah was killed earlier Thursday in Toulouse.
 
The page, which bore a picture of the self-proclaimed Al-Qaeda militant and was titled "Homage to Mohamed Merah", was consulted by more than 500 people before it was removed just hours after it appeared, they said.
 
Many visitors left comments that were hostile to the police or favourable to Islamic extremism.