Emmanuel Macron reaffirms in an interview with the liberated Dauphiné and the newspapers of the Ebra group to publish on Wednesday the "right to blasphemy" and to "criticize religions", defending Mila to whom "we owe protection".
This teenager from Isère had to leave her high school in Isère after being threatened with death on social networks because of remarks hostile to Islam. The controversy then erupted in the political sphere after statements by the Minister of Justice Nicole Belloubet that the "insult to religion" is "an attack on freedom of conscience", a statement which she later regretted "l 'inaccuracy".
"We owe him protection at school, in his daily life"
"In this debate, we have lost sight of the fact that Mila is a teenager," said Emmanuel Macron, when asked about the controversy. "We therefore owe him protection at school, in his daily life, in his travels. The State has taken its responsibilities", he added with reference to the solution of schooling announced on February 6 by the Minister of National Education. According to the president, children must "be better protected" against "new forms of online hatred and harassment".
"I separate this imperative from the question on criticism of religions. The law is clear: we have the right to blasphemy, to criticize, to caricature religions", underlined Emmanuel Macron. "The republican order is not the moral order", he insisted, before specifying: "What is prohibited is the call to hatred, the attack on dignity". Emmanuel Macron had already mentioned "freedom of blasphemy" during a trip to the comic book festival in Angoulême, on January 30: "In our country freedom of expression is protected, in this country and there are few in the world, the freedom of blasphemy is protected, to criticize the leaders, to mock them and that is a treasure ".