Rabat – Dozens of Muslims took to the streets in France on Sunday, March 21, protesting against the surge of Islamophobia and Macron’s controversial bill.
The protests took place in different cities, including Paris, Marseille, Lille, Strasbourg, Lyon, and Bordeaux.
The protesters condemned a bill that Emmanuel Macron introduced in 2019 against Islamist separatism.
Muslims in France condemn both the surge of Islamophobia and the bill which is considered to target Islam.
Omar Slaouti, the organizer of Sunday’s protest, accused the French government of targeting Muslims and Islam.
He told Anadolu Agency that the bill also “interferes with Islamic practices.”
“This is too much, we condemn the [government’s] colonialist and neo-colonial approach,” he said.
The protest organizer also vowed that the protests will continue against the bill.
France’s National Assembly approved the bill on February 16.
The Senate will debate the bill on March 30.
The bill seeks to remove radical ideologies from schools, public services, and associations, amid ongoing frictions related to Islam in the European country.
The bill also aims to regulate the behavior of students, religious institutions, and behavior of public servants.
The situation in France escalated in recent months after the brutal murder of Samuel Paty, a French teacher.
A refugee from Chechnya murdered Paty for showing his class caricatures of Prophet Muhammed.
Following the murder, French President Macron made several controversial comments.
In a presidential address, Macron warned against “the formation of a counter-society shown by children being taken out of school, the development of separate community sporting and cultural activities serving as a pretext for teaching principles which aren’t in accordance with the Republic’s laws.”
The French government also cracked down on several mosques.
Before Paty’s murder, Macron also claimed Islam is a religion in crisis, a statement that did not go unnoticed.
Citizens from several countries launched boycott campaigns against French products against Macron’s remarks perceived as Islamophobia.
