DOHA,
December 19, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - France's
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said on Sunday, December 18, that
the recent riots in Paris suburbs had nothing to do with Islam.
"Let's
not mix Islam, which is a religion of peace, with the actions of
thugs," Sarkozy said in an interview with Al-Jazeera, reported
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Islam
has nothing to do with the actions of criminals, assassins and
thugs".
Nearly
two weeks of rioting in the country's high-immigration suburbs left
more than 6,000 cars burned, public and private property destroyed,
tens of policemen injured and one civilian killed.
More
than 1,500 people -- mainly Arab and black youngsters -- have been
detained.
The
deaths of two youths fleeing police ignited pent up frustrations among
young men, many of North African origin, at racism, unemployment,
marginalization and mistreatment by police.
Asked
about his use of the word "scum" to describe Arab youths who
rebelled in October against their deplorable living conditions in
French ghettos, Sarkozy said the grave situation at the time demanded
"firmness".
"I
do not normally use street language, I speak so that everyone would
understand me," said the minister, who was on a visit to Qatar.
"In
the republic where I live, it is the thugs who must explain their
actions and not the minister of interior."
Sarkozy's
remarks have sparked anger among Arab and Muslim immigrants in France,
with many civic leaders pressing for his resignation.
In
a recent opinion poll, more than half of France's youths aged 15-24
disapproved of Sarkozy's use of the words "rabble" and
"louts" to describe immigrants.
Defender
Sarkozy
insisted he had fought the most for the rights of the country's
estimated six million Muslims.
"I
am without doubt the one who has fought the most to recognize the
rights that are owed to Muslims in France," he told the
Doha-based channel.
"I
insisted that Muslims pray in mosques instead of clandestine places,
basements and garages and that they have imams that speak French and
are trained in France".
Sarkozy
was one of the staunch supporters for establishing the first umbrella
council of French Muslims and supervised its first election in April
2003.
He
also made reservations at the French law that banned hijab and
religious insignia at state schools, drawing diatribe from right-wing
politicians that he was trying to "Islamizing" France.
Sarkozy
has appointed a Muslim man of Algerian descent, Aissa Dermouche, as
the prefect of the eastern Jura province, the first time in the
history of the northeastern European country.
He
has demanded budget appropriations for places of worship, particularly
mosques, a demand that was rebuffed by President Jacques Chirac.
Anti-Terror
The
interior minister argued that France's position as a beacon for
tolerance and defense of human rights has not been shaken after the
riots and its crackdown on terror suspects in the aftermath of the
July 7 London attacks.
"Can
you name one Arab country, where human rights are better protected
than in the French republic," he said empathically.
French
police have arrested a total of 28 Muslims over the past week in the
Paris region on charges of funding "terrorists".
Sarkozy
also defended the new anti-terror bill adopted on November 29 by the
country's lower house of parliament.
The
bill, drawn up by Sarkozy and motivated by the London bombings, allows
increased video surveillance of public transport system, shops and
places of worship, particularly mosques.
It
also gives police wider access to telephone and computer data as well
as to previously confidential customer information from rail, maritime
and air transport companies.
A
politician with vaulting ambition, Sarkozy has taken over in December
of 2004 the leadership of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement
(UMP), a concrete step paving a bumpy way for the Elysee Palace in
2007 presidential election.
He
publicly opposed the definition of secularism by the successive French
governments and called for amending the "sacred" 1905
secularism law.
Sarkozy
also called for integrating immigrants into French society and
granting them privileges at places of work and public life like the
French.
He,
however, has recently jumped on the bandwagon of opposing Turkey’s
admission into the expanding 25-nation European Union, saying the
secular Muslim country should be "associated with" but not
"integrated" into Europe.
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