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French President Emmanuel Macron said he understood Muslims’ feelings about the offensive cartoons of the Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace), and emphasized that his government did not support these cartoons.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Macron spoke of the anger caused by the offensive cartoons published by Charlie Hebdo magazine.
“The cartoons are not a government project, they emanate from free and independent newspapers that are not affiliated with the government,” he said. He added that he understood the feelings of Muslims on this issue.
Macron had previously said that France would not abandon the cartoon, while commenting on the case of the murder of a young man of Chechen origin, a French teacher who showed his students offensive cartoons for the Prophet of Islam and humanity, may God bless him and him. grant peace.
Macron’s statement sparked outrage in the Islamic world, especially since it came just days after another statement in which he said that the Islamic religion is experiencing a crisis everywhere.
In the interview to be released later, Macron said: “I think the reactions were due to lies and distortions of my words and because people understood that I support these cartoons.” He added: “There are people who distort Islam and claim to defend it in the name of this religion.”
Macron said that Muslims are the most affected by the behavior of those who pervert Islam.
Macron’s emphasis that the government does not embrace the offensive cartoons comes amid a growing popular campaign in the Islamic world to boycott French goods, and two days after an attack in Nice that left three dead and several wounded.
More attacks
Previously, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanan said there was a possibility of more attacks on French soil. “We are at war and we face an internal and external enemy, and an Islamist ideology,” he added.
But he did not see the need to change the constitution to protect the French from terrorist attacks.
The police chief of the French city of Nice said on Friday that Christian and French government sites are vulnerable to attacks by militants.
“We are in a situation where the terrorist threat is expanding more and more. Any symbol of the Republic or Christianity is a potential target,” Richard Janotti told Reuters. “We have to be careful. We have to pay attention,” he added.
With 3,300 security cameras on the streets, Janotti said the police footage would be of great interest to investigators.
“The researchers will use all of our video recordings, and this will play a crucial role in helping the researchers,” he said.
information
The anti-terrorist prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Jean-Francois Ricard, told reporters that the 21-year-old Tunisian attacker from the Nice bombing arrived in France in October, after landing on the Italian island of Lampedusa on September 20.
A judicial source announced that a 47-year-old man suspected of being related to him was arrested under police investigation on Thursday night.
But a source close to the file asked for caution about the nature of their exchanges. Tunisia, which strongly condemned the attack, also announced the opening of an investigation.
Ricard said investigators found two Koran, two telephones and the murder weapon, which is “a 12-inch long knife with a 17-centimeter long blade, near the attacker in Nice.”
Convictions
Several Islamic countries, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran, “strongly” condemned the Nice attack, and Tunisia, for its part, expressed “its solidarity with the French government and people.”
As for the Vatican, it declared that “terrorism and violence cannot be accepted at all.”
“It is a moment of pain in a time of confusion,” said his spokesman Matteo Bruni, noting that Pope Francis “prays for the victims and their loved ones.”
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