On Sunday morning, passengers on the Aix-Marseille shuttle bus heard Quranic verses being played by a driver. The regional administration Metropole Aix-Marseille is leading the investigation.
Sunday morning, line 50, Aix-en-Provence bus station. The Aix-Marseille shuttle bus, the most used, 10,000 to 15,000 passengers every day during the week. You get on the bus late in the morning and the speakers play a psalmody in Arabic from the first to the last seat. The volume is high. One of the passengers confronts the young bus driver: “You can’t expect us to listen to that!”; Another in the back of the bus, an Algerian: “You don’t respect secularism, you have no right to do that!
The driver’s reaction is curt and without the slightest hesitation: “This is my bus! I do what I want. If you are not satisfied, get off”. This version was confirmed to us by a female passenger. There are hardly any protests among the 50 or so passengers. No one dares to address the driver directly. The Algerian pensioner starts again in a loud voice: “These are religious verses”.
Then he confronts the other passengers: ” Is no one concerned about secularism?”. Silence. No one contradicts the driver, who just drives off.
The prayer continues until Saint Charles station, continuous loop tape on the bus. Almost 40 minutes in total. More than a discomfort. The passenger we managed to contact can’t believe it: “I find it very shocking. Secularism is a hugely important issue. And all this happened the whole way, all the way to the station in Marseille”.
The prayer continues until Saint Charles station, continuous loop tape on the bus. Almost 40 minutes in total. More than a discomfort. The passenger we managed to contact can’t believe it: “I find it very shocking. Secularism is a hugely important issue. And all this happened the whole way, all the way to the station in Marseille”. On arrival, the Algerian passenger who had been most opposed to the harassment recounts his shock: “It reminds me of Algeria with the FIS. The Islamists, they played this on the buses. Today it’s forbidden in Algeria! And I can hear it here! This is the first time. This is catastrophic! We have to react.”
And he concludes: “This young man, if he keeps doing this, he will bring the Rassemblement National to the top!” France Bleu
