Outgoing French President Emmanuel Macron accused - on Wednesday evening - his right-wing rival Marine Le Pen of risking a "civil war" in France if she was elected president and carried out her pledge to ban the Islamic headscarf in public places.
The far-right candidate, Le Pen, confirmed, during a televised presidential debate, her adherence to her controversial idea of banning the Islamic headscarf, which she considers "a uniform imposed by Islamists", but she stressed that she "does not fight Islam."
Macron responded by saying, "You are going to start a civil war. I say that honestly."
"You are pushing millions of our citizens out of the public space," Macron said, considering that this would be a "law of ostracism", but Le Pen responded, saying that it would be "a law in defense of freedom."
After seeming to back away from this project in recent days, the presidential candidate returned and confirmed in the debate that she "is with the ban on the veil in public places."
The far-right candidate considered the ban "related to the liberation of women and the curbing of Islamic ideology."
She added, "I am not against Islam, which is a religion that has its place" in France.
The issue of the veil is a sensitive topic and has been a frequent presence in French politics for years.
The wearing of visible religious symbols is currently prohibited in schools and state administrations, but not in public places.
On the foreign policy front, Macron accused his rival of "subordination to the Russian authority and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin", due to a financial loan obtained by the right-wing candidate from a Russian bank.
Le Pen responded by denying this accusation sharply, asserting that she is a "completely and absolutely free woman", and justified her resort to the Russian Bank by saying that no French bank had agreed to give her a loan.
In response to a reference to her closeness to the Russian president, Le Pen said, "I support a free Ukraine, not affiliated with neither the United States nor the European Union nor Russia, this is my position," referring to a tweet she posted in 2014.
Four days before the second round, opinion polls still favor the outgoing president, with voting trends ranging from 54% to 56.5%, compared to 43.5% to 46% for his right-wing rival, a much narrower gap than in 2017, when Macron won with 66%. of votes.