In an interview with the magazine La Revue des deux mondes, Jean-Luc Mélenchon assures that he would attend again if a new march against Islamophobia were organised.
However, his participation, as well as that of his members, was heavily criticised at the time, including by a section of the left because of the “Allah Akbar!” slogans chanted by demonstrators in the Paris march, which was also joined by the controversial “Collective Against Islamophobia” (CCIF). An association that was later accused of “Islamist propaganda” by Gérald Darmanin, who had since been appointed Minister of the Interior, and finally dissolved by the executive in 2020.
“I refuse to let the Islamists control the Muslims,” Jean-Luc Mélenchon defends himself. “So when there is a demonstration where they sing the Marseillaise, when we come with the blue-white-red flag alongside the CGT, the FSU and Attac, and when they say that Mélenchon took part in an Islamist demonstration because a madman shouted, it is upsetting… On the contrary, at the end of this demonstration, thousands of people sang the Marseillaise!”
“Those who don’t come are defending hatred, the right to publicly hate Muslims and insult them. I will never be a part of it. Those who are against this demonstration are making a statement. They think: yes, it is allowed to shoot Muslims when they leave the mosque.” Jean Marc Morandini