Hisham Abu Mariam-Paris

Hundreds of French people from across the political, religious and civil spectrum did not dissuade demonstrations in Paris on Saturday to express their condemnation of the current media and political campaign against veiled Muslims and the spread of anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Islamophobia has been renewed in France these days after a far-right leader attacked a veiled woman who was accompanying her son on a school trip to attend a local council meeting called for by students and their parents to remove her veil.

Proud of my hijab
Fatima Ben Ezzo, who attended the demonstration - a veiled Muslim, a mother of three and a member of the Parents' Syndicate in Evry on the outskirts of Paris - said she had lived her worst week in years after a frantic campaign led by figures in French President Emmanuel Macron's party, as well as the extreme right and right against Veiled Muslim women, in collusion with the French media as described.

She explained in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net - that she is a French citizen and at the same time a Muslim proud of her veil, stressing that it will not remove it at all, and that "the obsession that afflicted the political class because of a cloth reflects moral bankruptcy and blind hatred against Arabs and Muslims," ​​as she put it.

Think about immigration
The young veiled French Emily Jadu, she attended the demonstration accompanied by her Moroccan husband, to express her condemnation of the campaign of distortion and racist hateful speech against Muslim women as described.

She added that "France, which claims human rights, there is no difference between them and Saudi Arabia in restricting individual freedoms, especially freedom of dress for Muslim women."

Emily said she and her husband are seriously considering immigration and stability in Britain, where veiled women are allowed to access various government jobs, unlike France, which has not only tightened their noose by banning them from wearing headscarves in school and work, but also fighting them in public places and wants to prevent them from accompanying their children. On school trips, she said.

Participants from various streams expressed their condemnation of the speech of racism and hatred (Al Jazeera)

Politicians denounce
The demonstration was attended by several French political figures, including members of the French parliament. The MP of the Communist Party Clementine Otan - in a statement to the island Net - its full solidarity with veiled, and condemnation of racist anti-Muslim discourse through stigmatization of Muslims extremism and terrorism.

Otan stressed that the fight against terrorism should not be rejected and antagonized Muslims, because they are an integral part of the French nation as described.

It is noteworthy that MP Otan was among ninety French personalities signed a petition addressed to the French President published in the newspaper Le Monde under the headline "Mr. President, say enough hatred against Muslims in France", calling on him to intervene urgently and condemn all attacks and media and political campaigns against Muslims in France explicit.

Warning of civil war
Faced with this congestion and the denunciation of a number of French political and cultural figures against the campaign against Muslims, President Macron's response came two days ago warning of the confusion between Islam and terrorism, saying that it could lead to civil war in the country.

Macron called on all French people of all walks of life to confront terrorism unabated, but without criminalizing Muslim citizens or stigmatizing them.

French Prime Minister Eduard Philippe, in turn, joined the veil crisis line, and confirmed last Thursday his refusal to expand the law banning the headscarf in schools to cover the veiled mothers accompanying their children on school trips, after ministers from his government - in addition to figures on the right and extreme right - Desire to amend this law.

It is noteworthy that the French Institute of Evop polls concluded that 66% of French support the prevention of accompanying mothers veiled their children on school trips.