Last week there were mass rallies in the streets of several French cities after the beheading of a teacher by an Islamic extremist. In response to the grisly murder on Oct. 16, people wanted to stand up in support of French values including secularism and free expression, the same values teacher Samuel Paty was killed over. But the French response led by President Macron has created a backlash in some Muslim countries who are launching boycotts of French products:
Macron says extremists are impeding that integration, and his government has begun carrying out raids, deportations, and ordering the dissolution of certain Islamic groups. One of them aimed to fight Islamophobia in France and another was a humanitarian organization that does work in Africa and South Asia. Authorities also didn’t stop images of the cartoons from being projected onto French government buildings during the national remembrance.
France’s interior minister, Gérard Darmanin, told local paper Libération on Monday that such measures were aimed at “sending a message,” adding, “We are seeking to fight an ideology, not a religion.”…
On Tuesday, 40,000 people rallied in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, against Macron’s efforts, and even burned him in effigy. That followed less aggressive acts in other countries, with Turkey, Tunisia, Kuwait, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and more calling to boycott French products and grocery stores.
This article was sourced from Hot Air
