More protests are planned for today by both Muslims and non-Muslims.
Calls to boycott French goods are growing around the world after President Emmanuel Macron’s comments against Islam and Muslims.
Macron on Wednesday accused Muslims of separatism and vowed not to give up cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammed.
The leader’s comments came in response to the beheading of a teacher, Samuel Paty, a 47-year-old teacher, who was attacked on his way home from the junior high school where he taught in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, 40 kilometres northwest of Paris.
READ MORE: Stabbed under the Eiffel Tower: How France’s deradicalisation hurts Muslims
Condemnation
On Sunday, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned Macron’s statements on Twitter.
“It is unfortunate that he has chosen to encourage Islamophobia by attacking Islam rather than the terrorists who carry out violence, be it Muslims, White Supremacists or Nazi ideologists. Sadly, President Macron has chosen to deliberately provoke Muslims, incl his own citizens, through encouraging the display of blasphemous cartoons targeting Islam & our Prophet PBUH.”
Hallmark of a leader is he unites human beings, as Mandela did, rather than dividing them. This is a time when Pres Macron could have put healing touch & denied space to extremists rather than creating further polarisation & marginalisation that inevitably leads to radicalisation
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) October 25, 2020
through encouraging the display of blasphemous cartoons targeting Islam & our Prophet PBUH. By attacking Islam, clearly without having any understanding of it, President Macron has attacked & hurt the sentiments of millions of Muslims in Europe & across the world.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) October 25, 2020
Turkey’s Communications Director Fahrettin Altun on Sunday said the EU is increasingly becoming dangerous for Muslims.
In a series of tweets, he said that offensive caricatures, separatism against Muslims, and mosque raids isn’t about freedom of expression, but its about reminding Muslims they will never belong in EU.
“Here’s what Europeans against Islam and Muslims need to understand, We won’t go away because you don’t want us, We won’t turn the other cheek when you insult us, We will defend ourselves and our own at all costs.”
Europe’s hostility towards Muslims and efforts to ‘discipline’ them is inseparable from the increasingly widespread hostility towards Islam, Turkey and our president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) October 25, 2020
Here’s what those Europeans need to understand: Muslims won’t go away because you don’t want us. We won’t turn the other cheek when you insult us. We will defend ourselves and our own at all costs.
— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) October 25, 2020
Also on Sunday, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, “When truth is spoken to their faces, Europe’s loser racists show up and try to exploit Islamophobia and xenophobia. Time has come to stop Europe’s spoiled politicians with fascist mindset.”
When truth spoken to their faces Europe’s loser racists showed up again. Trying to exploit Islamophobia and xenophobia. Time has come to stop Europe’s spoiled politicians with fascist mindset.
— Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu (@MevlutCavusoglu) October 25, 2020
Meanwhile, Egypt’s world renowned Islamic institution denounced Macron’s remarks about Islam.
Scholars at Al Azhar University on Sunday called Macron’s statement ‘racist’.
They say that French President’s remarks have nothing to do with the true essence of Islam.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday slammed Macron over his policies toward Muslims, saying that the French president needed “mental checks.”
“What can one say about a head of state who treats millions of members from different faith groups this way: first of all, have mental checks,” Erdogan said in a televised address.
Turkey’s President Erdogan calls out French President Macron by asking what his problem is with Islam and Muslims pic.twitter.com/QDikYU3a0d
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) October 25, 2020
On Saturday, Jordan’s foreign ministry said it condemned the “continued publication of caricatures of Prophet Muhammed under the pretext of freedom of expression” and any “discriminatory and misleading attempts that seek to link Islam with terrorism.”
It did not directly criticise Macron.
Jordan’s opposition Islamic Action Front party called on the French president to apologise for his comments and urged citizens in the kingdom to boycott French goods.
Such boycotts are already underway in Kuwait and Qatar.
Images on social media show workers removing French Kiri and Babybel processed cheese from shelves of supermarkets in Kuwait.
In Doha, an AFP correspondent saw workers stripping shelves of French-made St. Dalfour jams and Saf-Instant yeast in a branch of the Al Meera supermarket chain on Saturday.
Al Meera competes with French supermarket chains Monoprix and Carrefour for market share in the lucrative Qatari grocery sector.
Al Meera and another grocery operator, Souq Al Baladi, released statements late Friday saying they would pull French products from stores until further notice.
They stopped short of explicitly naming Macron or citing his comments, but the Al Meera statement said customer “comments guided our actions”.
Neither operator responded to AFP requests for comment.
Backlash
Before Macron’s comments, he had already sparked a backlash in early October when he said “Islam is a religion that is in crisis all over the world”.
Nayef Falah Mubarak Al-Hajraf, secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council called Macron’s words “irresponsible” on Friday, and said they would “increase the spread of a culture of hatred”.
The same day, Qatar University wrote on Twitter that following “the deliberate abuse of Islam and its symbols”, French Cultural Week would be postponed indefinitely, in a context where 2020 is the France-Qatar year of culture.
Many Jordanians have changed their profiles on Facebook to add the message “Respect Mohammad the Prophet of Allah (God)”.
In Jaffa, a largely Arab town next to Tel Aviv, some 200 people protested after evening prayers on Saturday in front of the residence of France’s ambassador to Israel.
READ MORE: Is France punishing activists for condemning crackdown on Muslims?
Source: AFP