After a man was murdered on Friday, April 25th in a mosque in the south of France, the French Left wants to use the case to denounce a climate that has become ‘dangerous’ for Muslims in France, but the minister of the interior refuses to describe the murder as ‘Islamophobic.’
On the early morning of Friday, April 25th, a Malian man named Aboubakar Cissé was stabbed to death praying in a mosque in La Grande Combe, near Alès, in the Gard department in southern France. The murderer entered the mosque early in the morning and filmed himself killing his victim before fleeing. A refugee in Italy, he has since turned himself in to the police in Pistoia, near Florence.
Since the announcement of the murder, there has been intense debate in the French press about the exact motive of the killer, Olivier Hadzovic, a Frenchman of Bosnian origin. The website Fdesouche reveals that the murderer’s father arrived in France in 2001 with his wife and eleven children. He applied for asylum, which was rejected, but he remained in France after an administrative court ruled that his deportation would be “a disproportionate violation of his right to family life.” Olivier was born in 2004, shortly after his parents arrived in France, and was therefore able to obtain French nationality as being born on French soil. According to the local press, the murderer, who is in his twenties, lives on social welfare benefits, receiving RSA (Revenu de Solidarité Active, or active solidarity income), and spends his days playing video games.
While the entire French political class was moved by Aboubakar’s death, the Left vigorously seized on the murder of the Muslim to denounce a climate that has become dangerous for Muslims in France and cry out against ‘Islamophobia.’ “Islamophobia kills. All those who contribute to it are guilty,” said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI). LFI MP Clémence Guetté denounced “the immense responsibility of the media, politicians and the far right” which she believes contributes to maintaining an “Islamophobic climate.” The official body of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CCFM) also considers the murder to be a “dramatic consequence of the trivialisation and media coverage of anti-Muslim hatred.”
Overseas Minister Manuel Valls, a former Socialist, and Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, a member of the Les Républicains party, yet denounced the use of the term ‘Islamophobic,’ which they consider contrary to secularism because it takes the side of Islam. They prefer to describe Aboubakar’s murder as “anti-Muslim.”
The LFI party was very quick to send signals to its Muslim electorate in response to the murder. Jean-Luc Mélenchon attended an anti-Islamophobia demonstration in Paris on Sunday, April 27th, stating that an “unacceptable threshold” has been crossed. During the demonstration, the media focused on Muslims “in tears,” confronting the far-left leader: “We are scared, Mr. Mélenchon,” can be heard on a video broadcast by Le Parisien.
The parliamentary assistant of LFI MP Ersilie Soudais, known for her support of the October 7th attacks and her numerous antisemitic remarks, called on Muslims in France to “rise up” and form self-defence brigades during the demonstration. The minister of the interior announced that he would take legal action against the parliamentary assistant in response to his comments.
