Emma Watson Joins Laughing Protest Against Turkish Minister

Emma Watson proved laughing is a serious matter yesterday when she joined a worldwide protest against suggestions by one Turkish politician that women shouldn’t laugh in public.

The ‘Harry Potter’ star tweeted a picture of herself bent double laughing in a public square with a link to a newspaper story about the minister’s comments. At time of writing, her tweet has had more than 15,000 retweets and 20,000 favourites.

The campaign was sparked by Turkey’s deputy prime minister, Bulent Arinc, complaining about the passing of traditional values.

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"A man should be moral but women should be moral as well, they should know what is decent and what is not decent," he said in a speech on Monday.

"She should not laugh loudly in front of all the world and should preserve her decency at all times.”

Watson’s tweet included the hashtags #laugh and #direnkahkaha, the latter translating as ‘ResistLaugh’.

"Laughing is a revolutionary act," female members of Turkey’s opposition People’s Democratic Party tweeted following Arinc’s speech.

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“We need to hear the happy laughter of women,” said leading rival politician, Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu. Turkey’s government, led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is seen as increasingly conservative.

Thousands of women have since joined the protest, tweeting pictures of themselves laughing in public.

Watson is a goodwill ambassador for the UN and has more than 13 million followers on Twitter.

Image Credit: Press Association/Twitter.com/EmWatson