[ad_1]
Credit, EPA
French flags, portraits and images of Macron were burned in protests across the Islamic world
“We are not going to give up on our cartoons,” French President Emanuel Macron said during a tribute to Samuel Paty, the French professor who was beheaded for displaying pictures of the Prophet Muhammad in a classroom debate on freedom of expression.
And now, images of the French president are being burned in angry protests across the Islamic world, where he has been portrayed as a “demon” and accused of worshiping Satan.
With tensions rising, French authorities have called on their citizens in several Islamic countries to be careful and remain vigilant.
And the mayor of Nice, Christian Erosi, seemed to suggest a link between this scene of discontent and the murder of two people in the cathedral of the French city on Thursday (10/29).
“I confirm that everything suggests a terrorist attack inside the Basilica of Our Lady of Nice,” Erosi wrote on Twitter shortly after the incident.
“13 days after #SamuelPaty, our country can no longer settle for peace laws to end Islam-fascism,” added the mayor.
Paty’s assassination came two weeks after the French president described Islam as a religion of “crisis” and announced new measures in France to tackle what he called “Islamic separatism.”
And then, in a ceremony honoring the beheaded professor, Macron praised Paty and promised “to continue this fight for freedom, this fight for the defense of the Republic of which he became the face.”
Depictions of the Prophet Muhammad are considered taboo in Islam and are offensive to many Muslims.
But state secularism is central to France’s national identity.
And, according to the French state, restricting freedom of expression to protect the sentiments of a particular community damages unity.
Macron’s defense of the Muhammad cartoons this week sparked a new wave of protests in the Islamic world, where there were calls for a boycott of French products and companies, a call reinforced by Turkish President Recep Taryipp Erdogan.
In a televised speech in late October, Erdogan said Muslims are now “subject to a lynching campaign similar to that carried out against Jews in Europe before World War II.”
“European leaders should tell the French president to stop his hate campaign,” he added.
Credit, EPA
Macron paid tribute to Samuel Paty, the teacher killed for showing cartoons of Muhammad in a class on freedom of expression
However, so far, major European capitals have supported Macron and his defense of French secular values, including freedom of expression.
And, true to its particular style, the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo joined the campaign by publishing on its cover on Wednesday (10/28) a new cartoon, which will undoubtedly bring even more tension to relations with Turkey. Erdogan.
The picture shows the Turkish president in his underwear and lifting the skirt of an Islamic veiled woman carrying a tray of drinks, saying “Oh the prophet!”
“Erdogan, in private, is very funny,” reads the cover of the publication, which was the victim of a bloody attack in 2015 after having published several cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, the same ones that Paty showed in class.
Erdogan’s press director, Fahrettin Altun, immediately criticized the publication of the cartoon.
“We condemn this disgusting effort by this publication to spread its racism and cultural hatred,” he wrote on Twitter.
But the main target of criticism from Turkish Islamists remains the president of France, and the Turkish daily Yeni Akit warns that “Macron, the insolent, plays with fire.”
All over the islamic world
The anger against the French president and the country, however, does not focus only on Turkey.
In Iran, the ultra-conservative weekly Vatan Emrooz published its own cartoon of the French president this week, titled “The Demon of Paris.”
Iranian ultra-conservative publication Vatan Emrooz drew Macron as a demon
And in Bangladesh some 40,000 people took to the streets to call for a boycott of French products.
“Macron is one of the few leaders who worship Satan,” Ataur Rahman, one of the leaders of Islami Andolan, the Islamic party that called the march, told the protesters.
“France is the enemy of Muslims. Those who represent them are also our enemies,” said another group leader, Nesar Uddin.
In Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan also accused the French president of “attacking Islam.”
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov accused Macron of provoking Muslims, saying the French president was “starting to look like a terrorist.”
Credit, Reuters
In Bangladesh, tens of thousands took to the streets to call for a boycott of French products and the expulsion of its diplomats.
Saudi Arabia, for its part, issued an official statement condemning the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, but did not explicitly mention France.
The French products were collected from some stores in Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar.
There were also protests in several other countries, including Iraq, Libya and Syria.
‘Distorted’
France, for its part, criticized the call for a boycott of French products, saying that it “distorts the positions defended by France in favor of freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, freedom of religion and the rejection of any appeal to hatred. “.
According to the French Foreign Ministry, Macron’s comments on Islam have also been distorted “for political purposes.”
Credit, EPA
Jordan is one of several Arab countries where French products were recalled from stores.
In a message posted on Twitter on Monday (10/26), Macron said that France “will never give up”, although he also said that he respects “all differences in a spirit of peace.”
“We do not accept hate speech and defend a reasonable debate. We will always be on the side of human dignity and universal values,” he wrote.
Credit, EPA
French authorities have warned their citizens in Islamic countries
France has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe and some accuse the authorities of using secularism against them.
For now, Macron has the support of the main European countries.
Germany spoke of “solidarity” with Macron after Erdogan’s comments, and government spokesman Steffen Seibert called the Turkish president’s comments “defamatory” and “completely unacceptable.”
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Netherlands “strongly supports France and the collective values of the European Union”, while Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also expressed “full solidarity” with Macron.
Have you seen our new videos on Youtube? Subscribe to our channel!
