The deputy director of right-wing newspaper Le Figaro said, “we have the right to hate religion.”
Rabat – Deputy editor of French newspaper Le Figaro Yves Threard is at the center of controversy after making statements against Muslims and Islam.
During debate show “Le Grand Soir” (the Big Evening) broadcast on LCI on Monday, October 14, the deputy director of the newspaper’s editorial board said that he “hates Islam.”
“I hate the Muslim religion,” he openly said during a debate over the wearing of the veil or hijab in public space.
The TV show discussed the question of a ban on hijabs in public places following a controversial statement from Julien Odoul, a member of France’s National Rally (RN) last week on October 11.
Odoul and his colleagues asked the president of the Regional Council in France, Marie Guite Dufay, to tell a veiled Muslim woman accompanying her son at a school activity to remove hijab or leave.
Odoul’s statement came in response to the murder of four policemen by a colleague who French police “believed had been radicalized.”
Read Also: Members of Political Party in France Create Controversy After Asking Hijabi Woman to Remove Veil
Dufay said that she could not intervene as there was no reason for the woman to leave. She described the party’s behavior as a “surge of hatred” and “unworthy of elected officials of the republic.”
Threard displayed staunch support for the RN’s move, stating that he is totally against the hijab in public spaces.
He said that he had to leave a bus once when he saw someone wearing the veil.
The deputy director of the editorial board went so far to say that Islamophobia “does not exist,” emphasizing that everyone has the “right to hate religion.”
Several French public figures condemned Threard’s statement, including journalist Samuel Gontier.
Yesterday, Monday, October 14, Grontier said, “ Thank you for the idea. From now on, I will wear a veil to take the bus to avoid any meeting with Yves Threard.”
More than 1,000 people retweeted his post in reaction to Threard’s statement.
Jennifer Pademi, another journalist in France said, “This month of October is particularly violent, I feel that everyone is freewheeling. When will it stop,”.
She added, “Imagine you’re a Mulsim and you work at Figar* and you discover that?”
The Organization against Islamophobia in France (CCIF) announced that Islamophobic attacks increased by 52% in 2018 compared with 2017.
