Emmanuel Macron finally decided to intervene, Wednesday, October 16, in the debate on the wearing of the veil, a subject as flammable as recurrent in France, revived Friday when a member of the National Assembly (RN) has invoked a mother veiled in full session Regional Council of Burgundy-Franche-Comté. The latter decided Wednesday to file a complaint in Dijon and Paris for "racial violence in meetings" and "provocation to racial hatred," said the Collective against Islamophobia in France.
The day before, a group of 90 personalities had signed a tribune in Le Monde, addressed to the French president, asking him to condemn the assault of the mother. Two veiled escorts were also denied Monday access to the barracks of Creil by an officer, which resulted in the cancellation of the visit.
A "fatal shortcut"
Faced with the growing controversy over the wearing of the veil, which also agitates the majority, Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday called not to "stigmatize" Muslims, denouncing a "fatal shortcut" between the fight against terrorism and Islam.
"Let's block and do not divide to fight first and foremost against radicalization in our society, let's work for the Republic to be everywhere", added the head of state at a press conference at the from a Franco-German summit in Toulouse, while calling for "being intractable with communitarianism".
The development followed that of the Prime Minister, who had tried to close the debate, first Tuesday in the National Assembly and Wednesday in the Senate. Wanting to calm the game, Édouard Philippe repeated in front of parliamentary chambers that he did not want to "make a law on school chaperones", pointing rather "the stake" of "community drifts" and "out of school".
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The Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, who said Sunday that "the veil itself is not desirable in our society", also tried on Wednesday to extinguish the fire, ensuring that there had "much more important topics relating to secularism".
"Not in my name"
"I consider that the Islamic veil is not the desirable future of French culture and society", repeated on Europe 1, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, while estimating that it does not There was "not necessarily a need for law" in this area. MP Aurore Bergé, spokesperson for the Republic on the march (LREM), said she was ready to vote a bill Republicans (LR) on the ban on the veil during field trips. "I'm consistent with beliefs I've always had," she told LCP.
Several LREM deputies, including Coralie Dubost, Cécile Rilhac, Eric Bothorel, Fannette Charvier and Amelia Lakrafi immediately replied "Not in my name" ("not in my name") on Twitter.
#NotInMyName;) https://t.co/c70RpeAUar
Coralie Dubost (@CoDubost) October 15, 2019The deputy of Val-d'Oise Aurélien Taché, whose criticisms towards Jean-Michel Blanquer led to the seizin of the mediator of LREM, persists too. "Our role as politicians, it is still to defend the law" which does not prohibit the veil for school trips, he said on RMC.
A petition from the National Gathering
The National Rally (RN), which is launching a petition to ban the veil during school trips, also turned to Emmanuel Macron to whom he asked to "enforce the will of the French" and "legislate for prohibit the wearing of ostentatious religious symbols during school trips ".
The vice-president of the RN, Jordan Bardella, had called on LCI Emmanuel Macron to take "measures", deeming "delirious" the speech of Edward Philippe "to say that everything is fine". "Everyone agrees with us", is repeated to the heart of the RN based on an Ifop-Fiducial poll released Monday that 66% of French people support the ban on conspicuous religious symbols parents of students who accompany school trips.
A "stigmatization" for the left
The head of state indirectly responded by lamenting that "everything was confused in this debate". Earlier in the day, the Elysee had already said that the president considered it "irresponsible and dangerous for some politicians to make the connection between wearing the veil and radicalization."
For its part, the left deplores a "stigmatization" by the state. "Our fellow Muslims are tired of it" and "it is not up to the state to stigmatize a religion - this stigmatization, in reality, is racism, let's say it clearly", accused the deputy Insoumis of Sud Radio Eric Coquerel.
With AFP