(ANSAmed) – PARIS, JANUARY 09 – The leader of France’s far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally, RN), Jordan Bardella, has distanced himself from the words used by writer Michel Houellebecq on Muslims of France, describing them as “excessive”. In an interview with the magazine Front Populaire, the author described Muslims as a threat to the non-Muslim French, while partially backtracking later. He said that he did not wish for the French population “Muslims be assimilated, but for them to stop stealing and attacking. Otherwise, another solution is for them to go”, said the best-selling author whose books include Submission, going as far as forecasting “Bataclan-style attacks” against the Islamic population.
The party leader said the novelist’s words “more or less painted everyone with the same brush”, when asked to comment live on BFM-TV. “In France, we have a problem with French nationals who were born on French territory, who are here, but whose soul is elsewhere; people who behave as if they were foreign – in this case, we have a problem”, continued Bardella.
He added however that “there are French of Muslim religion, who come from immigration, who respect our laws and customs and who must be allowed to continue living in France”. The RN leader, who comes from a family of Italian immigrants, deplored a “generalization” that “should not be made”. After a controversy that lasted several days, the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris confirmed on Friday that he was “dropping a complaint” against Houellebecq over his “violent” and “extremely grave” words against the Muslims of France. (ANSAmed).
Source: ANSA Med