“Faced with the threat of radical Islam, how does the state respond”. This is the title of Zone Interdite’s investigation, which has provoked fierce reactions since it was broadcast on M6 on Sunday January the 23rd. Zone Interdite was indeed focusing on the city of Roubaix in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, where “a small radicalised minority is challenging the laws of the Republic”. Some neighbourhoods are characterised by a rigorous Islam. The broadcast shows, for example, “faceless dolls” sold in toy shops in Roubaix “to respect an ultra-radical version of Islam that forbids the representation of human faces”. Or a first primary school class where boys and (veiled) girls are taught separately. And even a restaurant where women can eat undisturbed without wearing the veil.
In any case, this research has alarmed some politicians on the political right. This also applies to Éric Ciotti. The Les Républicains (LR) MP from Alpes-Maritimes called the report “frightening”: “Islamism is advancing, conquering territories and minds, everywhere in France, sometimes with the help and indulgence of elected representatives of the Republic,” he lamented on his Twitter account. In another message, Éric Ciotti even blamed Emmanuel Macron’s government. For him, “Macronism is an accomplice to these conditions”, and he recalled that he had already called on the government to “ban the veil for little girls”.
To this, the government had responded to him “by comparing the Islamic veil of children to the First Communion of Catholics”.Nadine Morano, LR MEP, shared a video clip from Zone Interdite about a restaurant in Roubaix where female customers who want to eat without a veil are provided with booths closed with an opaque curtain. According to Nadine Morano, “a merciless war should be waged in France to expel these barbarians” and close “these restaurants” and also “these boutiques, these bookshops, these Quranic schools, these mosques”.
“This is the appalling consequence of 30 years of political cowardice,” outraged Gilbert Collard on Twitter. He denounced the “communitarianism” that is taught “from an early age”. He shared a video clip of a first grade class where boys and veiled girls are taught separately. The teacher, who is also veiled, assures that the students “learn to live without seeing the opposite sex”.
Finally, Éric Zemmour wrote a commentary in Le Figaro on Monday 24 January. For the candidate for the presidential elections next April, the documentary shows that Afghanistan is “two hours away from Paris”. He wrote: “The customs and traditions of totalitarian Afghanistan are taking root in our country under the benevolent gaze of the public authorities.” Éric Zemmour then called to “take back our country”: “It is time to put an end to Islamic indoctrination.”