there's a new target on student placards
these days
frederick vidal france's higher
education minister
her priority in the midst of a global
pandemic root out
islamist sympathies from french
universities
with a government probe into academic
research
we have a very strong extreme right so
you cannot
play with fire by saying you want to get
get rid of islamism in universities it
has consequences
the row over university research is part
of a wider government offensive against
islamist ideology in france at its heart
a new law designed to stop the
separation of some muslim communities
from mainstream french society
what we have to attack is islamist
separation
a political religious project which
emerges out of rifts with the values of
the republic
and often leads to a counter society
but mr macron is struggling to bridge
rifts even within his own political
party
and fear of islamist extremism is home
turf to his far-right rival marine le
pen
public opinion is telling macron you
can't look away
so he pretends he talks tough but in
reality
this law is laughable and doesn't in any
way protect the french
the new law which has already passed the
lower house of parliament would put
tighter controls on religious funding
education and cultural associations
there are also tougher penalties for
threatening public servants
or endangering others by spreading
personal information
[Applause]
the question of who's tougher on
islamist extremism provoked a tussle on
live
television last month when macron's
interior minister
accused le pen of being too soft and
advised her to take some vitamins
you're going further than i am then le
pen asks him
well yes the minister says i'm harder
than you
but it's not just those who preach
violence who are under the microscope
macron is keen to tackle the roots of
islamist extremism
in schools mosques and associations and
that's left some muslims feeling
unfairly targeted
anan lucille school mhs was closed late
last year in what the paris authorities
called the fight against separatism
but the legal grounds for the closure
were administrative
with no mention of any islamist activity
anan says her school taught a strictly
secular curriculum
and is appealing the decision we asked
the paris prefecture for comment
but no one was able to respond we think
it's a discrimination
and just because we have a
girl who had who were headscarf
that they put us in the case of
extremism
so they shut down our school and that's
the problem
because they don't attack only the
extremist people
they attack all the muslim people
religious symbols like headscarves are
banned in all french state schools
mhs was private and the only secular
school in paris to allow them
for 15 year old rehan it means she's now
back at an islamic school
despite wanting a secular education
for us mhs was the school who you can
wear hijab without the islamic course
you don't learn quran you don't have a
religious course
and it's why you always choose mhs when
i chose this to go back to the islamic
school
like i said i didn't feel very good
about it it was either remove my scarf
or
go back to my islamic school
mr macron wants to ensure that religious
teaching is in line with french national
values
he's demanded more control over the
funding and training of france's imams
and introduced a charter of republican
values for them to sign
the head of the paris mosque was one of
the first to sign it
we need to establish a bond of trust
between the republic and the muslim
community
i know some people don't like it because
we're supposed to be citizens already
but i think this needs to be done
and we're the ones who need to make the
effort to be considered as citizens
i don't see this as reductive or
humiliating at all
today i'm stating facts there's a link
between islam and terrorism
no one should kill in the name of islam
and on that there's work to be done
the islamist beheading of school teacher
samuel patty in a suburban street last
year
turned up the pressure on president
macron a recent poll
suggested that almost half of french
voters
think marine le pen would do better on
security
and that a similar number thinks she's
likely to win the presidential race next
year
but there are others questioning whether
the government is going too
far when samuel patty was beheaded
i was there only a few meters away from
the body
do we fully realize what happened a
teacher was beheaded with a knife
at five in the afternoon in the middle
of the street because he taught a class
on freedom of speech
it's not just another terror attack it's
a turning point i don't think we're
going too far
i think there's a huge fight to be had
against terrorism and radical islamism
for marine le pen the challenge is to
appear softer
not harder more than any other party in
france
her hassam lemon nationale is now seen
as the main opposition to macron
tighter controls on religious
organizations have angered conservative
christians
as well as muslims marine le pen often
labeled islamophobic
says she's the ally of the faithful in
france
there is religion on one hand an
ideology on the other
the government has made an error in
thinking that islamism
derives from the muslim religion and
that all religions are guilty in a way
the law wants to restrain islamism by
putting at risk
the freedom of religion i ask about her
policy of banning the muslim headscarf
from french streets
would that also apply to the jewish
keeper
as i have said to my jewish compatriots
we are asking for sacrifice
to renounce the wearing of the kippah in
order to be able to ban the headscarf
which i see as part of islamist combat
it's still over a year until the next
presidential race
but france is preparing for a rematch
between macron and le pen
one poll has put them just four points
apart
the gamble for france's centrist
president is whether winning votes on
the right
will make up for losing them on the left
the electorate
of marine le pen is extremely mobilized
they are going to support marine le pen
and so
if the electorate of macron with a
vegetation
the left would abstain then you can get
a very very narrow result
emmanuel macron rose to power four years
ago promising to bridge france's
political divide but the old left and
right of politics has enduring power for
many voters
and the man who wanted to unite them
both may find himself faced
with choosing sides