PARIS (AFP) -A French extreme-right leader hit out angrily Friday at Interior Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement for proposing the construction of more mosques in France as part of the integration of the Islamic community.
Bruno Megret, president of the anti-immigrant National Republican Movement, released a statement suggesting that Chevenement had "gone round the bend" and hitting out at "the initiatives by the minister of the interior to organize the Islamization of our country."
The minister had said in an interview with the daily Le Monde dated yesterday that discussions had been under way for some time between his ministry and representatives of the Islamic community on Islamic integration in France.
Asked by Le Monde about the particular need to build mosques, Chevenement said local councilors had many means at their disposal such as guaranteeing loans, offering land and renting out buildings under the same conditions as those offered to associations. "If the Muslims make the effort ... to integrate the construction of their mosques into the landscape of our towns, the councilors cannot refuse to give construction permission," the minister said.
However, a furious Megret countered, "By considering the building of mosques on (our) national territory as a priority and inciting public organizations to finance Islamic religious buildings, the minister of the interior is in effect betraying his mission and flouting the principle of state secularity."
Accusing Chevenement of making a declaration of war on France and the Republic, Megret said he would, "oppose by every means this attempt to destroy our country and its founding principles."
Chevenement said in the interview that the authorities and Muslim representatives were to meet again on April 20. The Muslim community in France numbers between four and five million people.
