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French Muslims uneasy as Islam takes centre stage in election
Far-right candidates Marine Le Pen of the National Rally (RN) and especially the former pundit Eric Zemmour have railed against Islam in frequent diatribes invoking security and terrorism risks.
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French far-right party Reconquete! presidential candidate Eric Zemmour gives a speech during campaign rally in Lille, northern France, on February 5, 2022, ahead of the April 2022 presidential election in France. (AFP/Julien de Rosa)
T
he role of Islam in French society has emerged as a key battleground in the presidential election campaign, leaving many French Muslims uneasy over the bursts of rhetoric against the nation's largest religious minority.
Far-right candidates Marine Le Pen of the National Rally (RN) and especially the former pundit Eric Zemmour have railed against Islam in frequent diatribes invoking security and terrorism risks.
Their messages are sometimes echoed by officials on the conservative right and allies of centrist President Emmanuel Macron, with their warnings on radical Islamism.
Such a fierce campaign debate about Islam would be less conceivable in neighbours like Britain and Germany, which also both have large Muslim minorities.
France, however, still lives in the shadow of the trauma of Algeria's War of Independence and, more recently, the jihadist massacres of 2015.
Zemmour, who is contending with Le Pen and the traditional rightwing candidate Valerie Pecresse to reach a second round run-off against Macron, caused a fresh outcry Monday by describing the town of Roubaix in northern France as "Afghanistan two hours from Paris".
He told France Inter Radio: "French people who are Muslims must live in the French way and not consider that sharia law is superior to the laws of the republic."
