French PM: There is an Islamist offensive in France

There is an ongoing "Islamist offensive" in France if you ask Prime Minister Gérald Darmanin. He said so in a TV show after a presenter confronted him with the increasing number of people neglecting the secularism law. This legislation forbids, among other things, the wearing of religious clothing at schools. However, recent surveys show that the number of people who wear abayas and qamis (long traditional Islamic clothing) is growing. This reports the Catholic daily La Croix.

According to Darmanin, the 2004 law should "be applied strictly and firmly". He, therefore, ordered local authorities to provide "all the necessary assistance to people who work in education and are faced with threads". The PM added that "heads of institutes are entitled to take sanctions against the pupils at the origin of such behaviour and to prohibit them from accessing their establishment".

France is notorious for its "laicism". This is officially the separation of church and state. In practice, it boils down to the separation of faith and public space. Especially with the arrival of Islam, this creates tensions.

Secular republic

While Darmanin was enforcing actions against public Islamism, his boss President Macron Emmanuel Macron, seemed to embrace it. He visited Paris' central mosque on Wednesday to mark 100 years since it was built. It was a move to project that the French leader is representing all factions of French society, united under one secular republic.

The visit comes just months after Macron's reelection in April. One of the key themes at that election was the role of Islam in secular France, which has Western Europe's biggest Muslim population. During the afternoon ceremony, which was attended by Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin and Army Minister Sebastien Lecornu, Macron unveiled a plaque marking France's "recognition" of its Muslim soldiers. This reports Associated Press.