Right-winger denounces 'Islamisation of France' TOM HENEGHAN IN PARIS http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=613382006 A FAR-right French politician launched his 2007 presidential campaign yesterday by claiming Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport was endangered by Islamist radicals who, he said, had infiltrated the ground staff.
Philippe de Villiers, head of the anti-immigrant Movement for France (MPF) party, also declared Islam incompatible with France's secular values and denounced what he called the Islamisation of the country. Mr Villiers has stirred up controversy in recent weeks with increasingly tough statements about Muslims, which critics call racist and officials describe as exaggerated. France's five million Muslims make up the largest such minority in Europe. "I am the only politician who tells the French the truth about the Islamisation of France," he said in a radio interview, kicking off his campaign. On Thursday, he plans to publish a book, entitled The Mosques of Roissy, detailing his charges about radicals at the airport. His main rival on the far-right, the National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, has also stepped up his preparations for the 2007 vote. The daily Le Parisien, in an extensive report yesterday on Mr Villiers's charges about Islamist radicals at the airport, quoted officials saying that the problem was minimal and suspicious workers were kept under surveillance. The interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the justice minister, Dominique Perben, toured the airport on Thursday and said that only 122 of about 83,000 ground staff were being watched. "There aren't 122, there are hundreds," said Mr Villiers, quoting what he said were secret police reports, which he used as the basis for his book. He challenged Mr Sarkozy to publish them. According to a survey to be published by Le Parisien today, Mr Villiers trails the veteran far-right leader Mr Le Pen, with 4 per cent support against his rival's 14 per cent. Mr Villiers said Islam was incompatible with the country's democratic system because he said it demanded loyalty to the ummah (world Muslim community) over individual states, wanted to impose sharia Islamic law, and promoted jihad, or holy war. "I think there are moderate Muslims, they are even the large majority, but I do not believe there is a moderate Islam," he said. "I do not think Islam is compatible with the French republic." Saying France had to fight what he called Islamisation, he said Paris should stop mosque construction, impose a citizen's charter demanding the strict separation of religion and state, freedom to change religions and demand respect for the equality of men and women. It should also expel any persons threatening the security of the French population. Asked for a comment on Mr Villiers's book, the head of the French Muslim Council, Dalil Boubakeur, told the weekly Le Point: "I don't share his vision of French Islam at all." This article: http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=613382006 Last updated: 24-Apr-06 01:45 BST -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
