French President Emmanuel Macron vowed Thursday to resist ‘political Islam’, which he said is a threat and seeks succession from the republic.
“POLITICAL ISLAM WANTS TO SECEDE FROM OUR REPUCLIC”
Macron made the remarks during a press conference at the Elysee Palace to unveil his policy response to the Yellow Vest protests following a three-month-long national debate.
“Political Islam wants to secede from our republic,” he said, asking the government to be “intractable” against it. “We are talking about people who, in the name of a religion, pursue a political project,” he said. He said the control of funds from abroad to some organizations should also be strengthened.
Macron also noted that France’s 1905 law on secularism has been effective and should continue to be implemented. “We must not hide ourselves when we talk about secularism. We do not really talk about secularism. We talk about the communitarianism that has settled in certain neighborhoods of the republic,” he said, referring to Muslim communities in France.
Since last November, thousands of protesters wearing bright yellow vests dubbed the Yellow Vests have gathered in major French cities to protest Macron’s controversial fuel tax hikes and the deteriorating economic situation.
Under pressure, Macron announced a rise in the minimum wage and scuttled the tax hikes. The protests grew into a broader movement aimed at tackling income inequality and are calling for giving citizens a stronger voice in government decision-making.
At least 11 people died in the protests, around 8,400 were detained and over 2,000 were injured, and subsequently nearly 1,800 got prison sentences.