LE MONDE, OUEST FRANCE (France)
PARIS – French far right leader Marine Le Pen weighed in on the Prophet Muhammad caricatures and anti-Islam film protests in an interview published by Le Monde on Friday.
When asked by the French newspaper what she would do if she was elected president, the Front National party leader answered, “I would expel all foreign fundamentalists. All of them!” She added that Muslim headscarves and Jewish skullcaps would be banned in shops, public transport, as well as in the streets and public institutions such as schools. Special halal and kosher meals in public school cafeterias would be also banned.
She accused the past and present French governments of laxity towards political and religious fundamental groups, saying that the country should restore law and order around housing projects, to “gain the upper hand.”
Another way for the government to “gain the upper hand,” she said, would be for primary schools to stop teaching foreign languages and culture, adding the schools’ role was to “create French nationals.” One way to do that she said was to put an end to dual nationality.
French President François Hollande was quick to react, reports Ouest France, saying that such divisive heavy-handed comments were inappropriate.
Education Minister Vincent Peillon, said Marine Le Pen’s comments “only serve to fuel obscurantism and hate, throwing oil on all fundamentalisms,” adding, she was “the top fundamentalist.”
