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France bans public Muslim prayers
MUSLIMS will be banned from praying outdoors in France from today in the latest move by officials to remove Islam from the public sphere.
The ban, announced by the government yesterday, infuriated French Muslim leaders, one of whom accused President Sarkozy's government of treating them like cattle.
They say that Muslims, who pray outdoors only because of a lack of space in mosques in France, feel stigmatised.
But Claude Gueant, the Interior Minister, said that the sight of hundreds of people gathering in the streets of Paris and other cities for Friday prayers was "shocking".
It comes after laws to prohibit pupils from wearing headscarves in schools and women from wearing the niqab, the full Muslim veil, in public.
Mr Gueant described outlawing street prayers as the latest brick in the wall that is shoring up the secular nature of the French state. He said that he had nothing against Islam, but wanted it out of the public eye.
"Street prayers must stop because they hurt the feelings of many of our compatriots who are shocked by the occupation of the public space for a religious practice," he said.
Police could be asked to arrest Muslims who continue to pray in the street, Mr Gueant warned, but officials will initially try to persuade them to move into a mosque.
Debate has focused on the Goutte d'Or district in northern Paris. Dozens and sometimes hundreds of Muslims pray in the surrounding streets.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, was accused of racism when she said that the worship amounted to an "occupation" - a word that for many French is associated with the Nazi invasion during the Second World War.
But the government now appears to be on the same wavelength, with Mr Gueant agreeing that street prayers would "upset" his fellow countrymen.
He said that officials had made available a disused fire station in the Goutte d'Or with room for 2700 people for a rent of €30,000 ($A40,330) a year.
But Muslim leaders said that the site would be open to worshippers only on Fridays.
Mohamed Salah Hamza, imam at a mosque in the Goutte d'Or district, said: "We are not cattle. Our demands have not entirely been satisfied."
He said that he feared worshippers would continue to pray outside.
"I am in an uncomfortable position and I am afraid there will be a climate of anarchy," he said.
Source
I notice that only Muslim prayer is banned, not prayer in general, such as Easter celebrations. Such a ban would be just as bullshit but still.
MUSLIMS will be banned from praying outdoors in France from today in the latest move by officials to remove Islam from the public sphere.
The ban, announced by the government yesterday, infuriated French Muslim leaders, one of whom accused President Sarkozy's government of treating them like cattle.
They say that Muslims, who pray outdoors only because of a lack of space in mosques in France, feel stigmatised.
But Claude Gueant, the Interior Minister, said that the sight of hundreds of people gathering in the streets of Paris and other cities for Friday prayers was "shocking".
It comes after laws to prohibit pupils from wearing headscarves in schools and women from wearing the niqab, the full Muslim veil, in public.
Mr Gueant described outlawing street prayers as the latest brick in the wall that is shoring up the secular nature of the French state. He said that he had nothing against Islam, but wanted it out of the public eye.
"Street prayers must stop because they hurt the feelings of many of our compatriots who are shocked by the occupation of the public space for a religious practice," he said.
Police could be asked to arrest Muslims who continue to pray in the street, Mr Gueant warned, but officials will initially try to persuade them to move into a mosque.
Debate has focused on the Goutte d'Or district in northern Paris. Dozens and sometimes hundreds of Muslims pray in the surrounding streets.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Front, was accused of racism when she said that the worship amounted to an "occupation" - a word that for many French is associated with the Nazi invasion during the Second World War.
But the government now appears to be on the same wavelength, with Mr Gueant agreeing that street prayers would "upset" his fellow countrymen.
He said that officials had made available a disused fire station in the Goutte d'Or with room for 2700 people for a rent of €30,000 ($A40,330) a year.
But Muslim leaders said that the site would be open to worshippers only on Fridays.
Mohamed Salah Hamza, imam at a mosque in the Goutte d'Or district, said: "We are not cattle. Our demands have not entirely been satisfied."
He said that he feared worshippers would continue to pray outside.
"I am in an uncomfortable position and I am afraid there will be a climate of anarchy," he said.
Source
I notice that only Muslim prayer is banned, not prayer in general, such as Easter celebrations. Such a ban would be just as bullshit but still.
Do they not remember their history of colonizing North Africa? Complaints of being occupied by Muslims sound ludicrous in that context.
They could bring it before the European court of human rights, but it's designed to be the last resort. It would mean that they would have to exhaust all legal means in France first (i.e. someone would have to be arrested for breaking the law, they would have to be convicted and every appeal would have to be upheld up to the highest court) before they could take it to the ECHR.
OK, it's one thing if you make a blanket ban on praying outside - if it is dogwhistle islamophobia to do so - but this is just plane flat-out islamaphobia when you blatantly single out Islam.
It would be very much in the spirit of true French laicité, but damn if they'd ever do it.
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, FRANCE. i love your language and your art and your left-wing politics, but seriously, you have got to stop with the serious islamophobic attitude.
at least i have something to talk about in my french classes, now?
Out of interest, what part of their politics do you consider particularly left-wing? I can't claim to be an expert myself, so I wondered what you had in mind.
http://www.eutimes.net/2011/05/france-t
Bastards.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-256
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.
how have I not heard of this? Am I just getting spectacularly bad at following the news? Because this feels really out of the blue; I'd have expected the right to try and get as much of the FN's electorate as they could by giving it maximum publicity.
God, I just can't with my country anymore.
This is in fucking ARTICLE ONE of our fucking constitution. "La France (...) respecte toutes les croyances" my arse.
First the burqa, now prayer. France isn't being subtle about their absolute racism and xenophobia and violation of human rights at all are they?
Sigh. France, you are no longer On Notice. You are now Dead To Me. Congrats.
Chapter 3
Article 21
Non-discrimination
1. Any discrimination based on any ground such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic
features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority,
property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be prohibited.
Article 22
Cultural, religious and linguistic diversity
The Union shall respect cultural, religious and linguistic diversity.
....get your fucking act together France.
France, if this is some attempt to drive the Muslims out of your country, all you're doing is royally pissing them off. What's next, a ban on mosque building?
How do average French citizens feel about this? Does anyone know?
the Burqa thing was bad enough. this is just ridiculous. are they gonna stop people from bowing their heads in prayer in the street, cause I know people do it. fuckin' rage.
It would be interesting to see that but France is a too atheist country for this to occur.
Well then maybe they should put a blindfold over their eyes and shut up.