A child holds a photograph of Macron, stamped with a shoe mark, during a protest in Turkey. Photo / AP
A child holds a photograph of Macron, stamped with a shoe mark, during a protest in Turkey. Photo / AP
French President Emmanuel Macron's response to his country's recent terror attacks has led to a huge backlash from Muslim leaders around the world and prompted boycotts and violent protests.
Last week, an 18-year-old Islamic extremist beheaded a high school teacher over his disrespectful portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad in his classroom.
He said the growing Muslim presence was a danger to France because it held its own laws above all others.
Macron further said that some Muslim parents kept their children out of school, group sports and community activities as a "pretext to teach principles that do not conform to the laws of the republic".
We will not give in, ever. We respect all differences in a spirit of peace. We do not accept hate speech and defend reasonable debate. We will always be on the side of human dignity and universal values.
To stop this, the President announced his plans to pass a legislative proposal that would essentially ban home schooling for children of all ages and prevent foreign-trained imams from leading French mosques.
The goal, the President said, was "to build an Islam in France that can be compatible with the Enlightenment".
French President Emmanuel Macron has had to respond to two terror attacks in his nation in as many weeks. Photo / AP
The comments were slammed as racist by world leaders, including Pakistan's Prime Minister, and the presidents of Turkey and Egypt.
PM Imran Khan of Pakistan said Macron was blaming all Muslims and not just extremists, tweeting that Macron chose "to encourage Islamophobia by attacking Islam rather than the terrorists".
He also accused Macron of "deliberately [provoking] Muslims, including his own citizens".
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,
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi was also outraged, saying Macron's actions had offended 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.
"We have the right for our feelings not to be hurt and for our values not to be hurt," he said.
Turkey's reaction was more extreme. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a boycott on all French goods and denounced Macron personally.
"What is the problem of this person called Macron with Muslims and Islam? Macron needs treatment on a mental level," Erdogan said.
"What else can be said to a head of state who does not understand freedom of belief and who behaves in this way to millions of people living in his country who are members of a different faith?"
It wasn't just leaders of Islamic nations that were annoyed; citizens began to take it out on French citizens.
Religious group burns representations of the French flags with defaced images of Emmanuel Macron during a protest in Pakistan. Photo / AP
The front page of a hard-line Iranian newspaper, Vatan-e Emrooz, depicting Macron as the devil. Photo / AP
Yesterday, the Associated Press estimated 2000 people tried to march towards the French embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. They were pushed back by police firing tear gas.
A Saudi Arabian man was arrested in Jeddah after attacking and injuring a guard with a "sharp tool" at the French consulate on Thursday, Saudi state TV reported.
The French embassy said they were subjected to an "attack by knife which targeted a guard". The guard was mostly unharmed and will survive the attack.
"The French embassy strongly condemns this attack against a diplomatic outpost which nothing could justify."
🔴 #BREAKING : A Saudi citizen has wounded a guard in a knife attack at the #French 🇫🇷 consulate in #Jeddah, the French embassy in #SaudiArabia 🇸🇦 has said.
In Syria's Raqqa, an old stronghold of the Islamic State, protesters were heard chanting "Death to France". They were also hailing the terrorist attackers as heroes and said beheading was an apt punishment for "blasphemers".
