The coverage by Zone Interdite is causing some frowning. This is at least true for the youth spokesperson of the La France Insoumise (LFI) party, David Guiraud. He was a guest on the Calvi 3D programme on BFMTV on Monday January 24. He sat opposite the director of the documentary Michaëlle Gagnet and the presenter Yves Calvi, among others. As a reminder, M6 aired a report entitled “Face au danger de l’Islam radical, les réponses de l’Etat” (Faced with the danger of radical Islam, the state’s responses) on Sunday January 23. Zone Interdite focused on several French cities such as Marseille, Trappes or Roubaix.
The television images about the city in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region have attracted a lot of attention. Some parts of the city are said to be dominated by radical Islam. For example, the programme shows “faceless dolls” sold in toy shops in Roubaix “to respect an ultra-radical version of Islam that forbids the representation of human beings”. 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.
For David Guiraud, this reportage would be “an attack to destroy the reputation of a whole city” and one would be “building an anti-Muslim field of conflict”. The member of the radical left party “came” to BFMTV “to say how much your reportage (addressed to Michaëlle Gagnet, editor’s note) harms the people of Roubaix”. He also denounced “non-honest (journalistic) methods”. Before making it very clear on stage: “There is a constant mix-up that is made between Islamism and terrorism.”
A statement to which he was immediately challenged by moderator Yves Calvi: “There are no links between Islamism and terrorism?” David Guiraud preferred to respond with a counter question: “How many terrorists or terrorist networks have been uncovered by this documentary? None.” An answer that could be perceived as vague and missing the point. Zone Interdite was in fact researching a growing communitarianism and radical Islam in the city of Roubaix, not terrorism. “With a lot of cleverness, you are making this documentary appear to be something it is not,” Yves Calvi finally denounced on BFMTV.
