PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron criticized Friday what he called Islamic separatism in his country and those who seek French citizenship without accepting Frances right to commit blasphemy.
Macron defended satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, which published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that helped inspire two French-born Islamic extremists to mount a deadly January 2015 attack on the paper’s newsroom.
The weekly republished the images this week as the trial began of 14 people over the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and on a kosher supermarket.
Speaking at a ceremony Friday celebrating Frances democratic history and naturalizing new citizens, the French president said, You dont choose one part of France. You choose France….The Republic will never allow any separatist adventure.
Freedom in France, Macron said, includes the freedom to believe or not to believe. But this is inseparable from the freedom of expression up to the right to blasphemy.
Noting the trial that opened Wednesday, he said, To be French is to defend the right to make people laugh, to criticize, to mock, to caricature.
The 2015 attacks killed 17 people and marked the beginning of a wave of violence by the Islamic State group in Europe.
Macrons centrist government has promised a law in the coming months against Islamic separatism but it is not clear yet exactly what it would police. Some critics fear it could unfairly stigmatize Frances largely moderate Muslim population, the largest in western Europe.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
Comments
0 comment