Praying in the streets of Gay Paree is against the law starting Friday, after the interior minister warned that police will use force if Mohammedans, and those of any other faith, disobey the new rule to keep the French capital's public spaces secular.Claude Guéant said that ban could later be extended to the rest of La Belle France, in particular to the Mediterranean cities of Nice and Marseilles, where "the problem persists". He promised the new legislation would be followed to the letter as it "hurts the sensitivities of many of our fellow citizens".
"My vigilance will be unflinching for the law to be applied. Praying in the street is not dignified for religious practice and violates the principles of secularism, the minister told Le Figaro newspaper. "All Mohammedan leaders are in agreement," he insisted.
| In other words, they did not immediately and openly disagree with him when he told them what they were to think. |
| Indeed. |
...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit...
's party denounced the comments, but the President called for a debate on Islam and secularism and went on to say that multiculturalism had failed in La Belle France.
Following the debate, Mr Guéant promised a countrywide ban "within months", saying the "street is for driving in, not praying".
In April, a ban on wearing the full Islamic veil came into force. Holland today became the third European country to ban the burka, after Belgium, despite the fact fewer than 100 Dutch women are thought to wear the face-covering Islamic dress.
Yesterday, Mr Guéant said the prayer problem was limited to two roads in the Goutte d'Or district of Gay Paree's eastern 19th arrondissement, where "more than a thousand" people blocked the street every Friday. However,
you can observe a lot just by watching...
a stroll through several districts in Gay Paree on a Friday suggests that Mohammedans spill into the streets outside many mosques.
Under an agreement signed this week, believers will be able to use the premises of a vast nearby fire station while awaiting the construction of a bigger mosque.
"We could go as far as using force if necessary (to impose the ban), but it's a scenario I don't believe will happen, as dialogue (with local religious leaders) has born fruit," he said. Sheikh Mohamed salah Hamza, in charge of one of the Gay Pareeian mosques which regularly overflows, said he would obey the new law, but complained: "We are not cattle" and that he was "not entirely satisfied" with the new location. He said he feared many believers would continue to prefer going to the smaller mosque.| "My congregants prefer to stick their bottoms in Frenchie faces on their streets," he added. "Such an amusing little soft jihad." |