diff --git a/gcc/cp/ChangeLog b/gcc/cp/ChangeLog
index 309738cdbba..50659896501 100644
--- a/gcc/cp/ChangeLog
+++ b/gcc/cp/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+2011-12-31  Paolo Carlini  <paolo.carlini@oracle.com>
+
+	PR c++/51397
+	* semantics.c (finish_static_assert): Use %s instead of %E for
+	the error message.
+
 2011-12-27  Fabien Chêne  <fabien@gcc.gnu.org>
 
 	PR c++/23211
diff --git a/gcc/cp/semantics.c b/gcc/cp/semantics.c
index bad418f97ca..835632fcfba 100644
--- a/gcc/cp/semantics.c
+++ b/gcc/cp/semantics.c
@@ -5127,7 +5127,7 @@ finish_static_assert (tree condition, tree message, location_t location,
       if (TREE_CODE (condition) == INTEGER_CST 
           && integer_zerop (condition))
         /* Report the error. */
-        error ("static assertion failed: %E", message);
+        error ("static assertion failed: %s", TREE_STRING_POINTER (message));
       else if (condition && condition != error_mark_node)
 	{
 	  error ("non-constant condition for static assertion");
diff --git a/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog b/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog
index 2fa96246442..b1b7e370588 100644
--- a/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog
+++ b/gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2011-12-31  Paolo Carlini  <paolo.carlini@oracle.com>
+
+	PR c++/51397
+	* g++.dg/cpp0x/static_assert6.C: New.
+
 2011-12-31  Uros Bizjak  <ubizjak@gmail.com>
 
 	* gcc.dg/tree-ssa/vrp47: Pass -march=i586 for ia32 target.
diff --git a/gcc/testsuite/g++.dg/cpp0x/static_assert6.C b/gcc/testsuite/g++.dg/cpp0x/static_assert6.C
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d1ab0dded9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gcc/testsuite/g++.dg/cpp0x/static_assert6.C
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+// PR c++/51397
+// { dg-options "-std=c++0x" }
+
+static_assert('X' != '\130', "'X' has the wrong value"); // { dg-error "'X' has the wrong value" }