French Minister of Interior Bruno Retailleau has targeted what he referred to as “political Islam”, calling for a ban the Islamic veil in French higher-education.
He told Le Parisien on January 6 that “France could be hit again” by a terrorist attack and said he was making “the fight against Les Frères Musulmans [Muslim Brotherhood] and Islamism one of his ‘top priorities'”.
To do that, Retailleau said he wanted to increase the scope of secularism by extending the ban on Islam beyond French elementary and middle schools through widening the scope of a 2004 law that banned religious symbols in such establishments.
According to the minister, the banning of religious symbols should also apply to school outings and chaperones as they were an extension of classrooms and universities.
“The veil is not merely a piece of fabric; it is a banner for Islamism and a symbol of the subjugation of women to men,” he alleged.
Retailleau’s idea to extend the scope of the 2004 law is not new. In 2013, the French Council of State argued that chaperones for school outings were not considered civil servants and were therefore not subject to the principle of religious neutrality.
During his interview, he assured Muslim citizens that the French Government was “not fighting against their religion, which is disfigured by Islamism, but against a political ideology that disfigures their religion”.
For Retailleau, political Islam threatens France’s institutions and national cohesion.
He accused the Muslim Brotherhood — a transnational Islamist organisation– of undermining France’s institutions and national cohesion to ultimately impose Sharia law.
“This is a slow conquest strategy, seeking to infiltrate all sectors of society — religious, cultural, sports, social, municipal, and so on” he claimed.
Retailleau also targeted immigration as part of the problem.
“Opening the doors to uncontrolled immigration from an Arab-Muslim geographical area where Islam has become radicalised has had consequences,” he said.
“This phenomenon has encouraged the creation of Islamist enclaves, where young girls are veiled and our Jewish compatriots are targeted.”
Three young men who were said to have been radicalised have been charged with alleged criminal terrorist conspiracy by France’s intelligence services, the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI). https://t.co/CKCqKr3ZzQ
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) December 11, 2024
