In Britain two women are in court demanding their right to wear a cross to work.
In Germany it's even illegal to salute the German flag, or borders on social taboo.
Europe .. it's fucked, but it's better than the U.S.
Also, free speech isn't absolute even in the US, for example I think you must also have libel laws.
Presume you're talking about this ( http://www.rt.com/news/uk-bans-wearing-cross-317/ ). This touches on religion, and whether the state wants to have a very multicultural/multiethnic workplaces, the wearing of overt religious iconography from one group can hinder that.
(Tis quite funny how the UK with an established state religion can be quite secular)
In Germany it's even illegal to salute the German flag, or borders on social taboo.
Probably depends on how you salute it. ;) One thing to remember in Europe, unlike the USA, there isn't as much flag waving or similar nationalistic stuff, unless there's a sporting match on. From seeing photos of the USA it looks like it's not uncommon for private citizens to have American flags outside. Here, if there isn't a sporting match on, it's either government buildings, or far right nationaists who habitually use their national flag. So behaviours that seem OK in USA, might seem weird in EU.
Some of this silly things are due to problems europe has had in the past (like religious persecution or extreme right wing nationalism)
Either it's illegal or a social taboo. And to my knowledge neither of them are true.
I agree it's not a custom, but it's not definitely no taboo.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allotment_(gardening)#Germany
Looks like times have changed recently.
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/world/europe/18germany.htm...
Not when it comes to free speech!
All countries define a subset of speech to be harmful in certain contexts. Some countries are more or less restrictive in defining that subset, but there is absolutely a continuum.
Free Speech definitions change over time, even in the USA. For lots of the 20th century movies didn't fall under "free speech", and before then blasphemy laws were not uncommon. Regions differ with other rights aswell, the free speech rights might be weaker in EU than USA, but employee or anti-discrimination law is stronger in EU than USA say.
Granted, the original statement is an idiotic one and a good indicator of the thought process of power-hungry fools who don't understand the purpose of law intended for the protection of the people.