France's Macron issues 'republican values' ultimatum to Muslim leaders
19 November 2020 Europe
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Image copyrightEPAImage shows Bangladeshi Muslim protesters during an Anti-France demonstration
Image captionProtesters have condemned President Macron over his comments about Islam
French President Emmanuel Macron has asked Muslim - BBC leaders to accept a "charter of republican values" as part of a broad clampdown on radical Islam.

On Wednesday he gave the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM) a 15-day ultimatum to accept the charter.

The CFCM has agreed to create a National Council of Imams, which will reportedly issue imams with official accreditation which could be withdrawn.

It follows three suspected Islamist attacks in little more than a month.

The charter will state that Islam is a religion and not a political movement, while also prohibiting "foreign interference" in Muslim groups.

Mr Macron has strongly defended French secularism in the wake of the attacks, which included the beheading of a teacher who showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a class discussion last month.

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Late on Wednesday, the president and his interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, met eight CFCM leaders at the Élysée palace.

"Two principles will be inscribed in black and white [in the charter]: the rejection of political Islam and any foreign interference," one source told the Le Parisien newspaper after the meeting.

The formation of the National Council of Imams was also agreed upon.


Video captionFrench President Emmanuel Macron says France 'will never give in'
President Macron has also announced new measures to tackle what he called "Islamist separatism" in France.

The measures include a wide-ranging bill that seeks to prevent radicalisation. It was unveiled on Wednesday, and includes measures such as:

Restrictions on home-schooling and harsher punishments for those who intimidate public officials on religious grounds
Giving children an identification number under the law that would be used to ensure they are attending school. Parents who break the law could face up to six months in jail as well as large fines
A ban on sharing the personal information of a person in a way that allows them to be located by people who want to harm them
"We must save our children from the clutches of the Islamists," Mr Darmanin told the Le Figaro newspaper on Wednesday. The draft law will be discussed by the French cabinet on 9 December.


Video captionThe French president led a vigil for Samuel Paty in Paris, attended by Mr Paty's family and about 400 guests
Samuel Paty, the teacher who was killed outside his school last month, was targeted by an online hate campaign before his death on 16 October.

Le Monde newspaper has published emails sent between Paty and colleagues in the days after he showed the cartoons in class.

"It's really distressing and particularly as it comes from a family whose child wasn't in my lesson and isn't someone I know," Paty wrote. "It's becoming a malicious rumour."

He later wrote in a separate email: "I won't do any more teaching on this topic - I'll choose another freedom as a subject for teaching."

Earlier this year, President Macron described Islam as a religion "in crisis" and defended the right of magazines to publish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Such depictions are widely regarded as taboo in Islam and are considered highly offensive by many Muslims.

Following these comments, the French leader became a figure of hate in several Muslim-majority countries. Protesters have also called for a boycott of French products.

In France, state secularism (laïcité) is central to the country's national identity. Freedom of expression in schools and other public spaces is part of that, and curbing it to protect the feelings of a particular religion is seen as undermining national unity.

France has western Europe's largest Muslim population.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-europe-55001167

Ok.

Really glad the western media is seeing Islam for what it really is, a virus.

It's a great day to say no to religious extremism. UK and other parts of Europe experiencing the great replacement take note.

France is now facing Islam headlong. Hopefully other European nations will borrow a leaf from her approach and go in the same direction.

It is amazing that those who do not tolerate other people's ideological stands or religions in their own countries want theirs enforced in other countries.

sagenaija:
France is now facing Islam headlong. Hopefully other European nations will borrow a leaf from her approach and go in the same direction.

It is amazing that those who do not tolerate other people's ideological stands or religions in their own countries want theirs enforced in other countries.

Why must your ideologies be enforced in Muslim countries

tartar9:

Why must your ideologies be enforced in Muslim countries

I didn't advocate for enforcement of other ideologies in Moslem countries.
I only ask that they too should TOLERATE other people's positions in their own lands as they want theirs to be in those other countries.
Is that not fair enough?

Europe shuts her door against Jesus (Peace) and embrace everything opposite Him. For every step there's always a price. Opportunity cost is the alternative forgone. It is late for them, let them enjoy this satanic embrace for a while.

I am a Muslim and I hate all these Moslem fanatics. Why won't you tolerate other people's ideology in their own country. Let them leave France or they succumb.