Former French PM faces backlash over proposal to ban headscarves for children
His predecessor as prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, voiced her "deepest doubts about the constitutionality" and the "applicability" of the measure, speaking on Sunday to the news channel BFM-TV. "Can we really imagine police officers stopping and fining little girls?" she asked. While she argued that "in the face of a serious threat (...) no option should be off the table," Borne, now the education minister, advised "working to propose rigorous, constitutionally sound, and applicable measures."
Marc Fesneau, the second-in-command of centrist Prime Minister François Bayrou's MoDem party, expressed concern about "an escalating one-upmanship" on matters of state authority within President Emmanuel Macron's coalition. "Within the 'central bloc,' we are now advocating the rhetoric, the ideas, the proposals of the right, or even the far right. But that is not what the center is about! That is not the adventure we wanted to build with Emmanuel Macron in 2017," said Fesneau, in the newspaper . "The original promise was one of moderation, unity, and reconciliation," he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
7 hours ago
- Euronews
Indonesian court sentences two men to public caning over sexual acts
An Islamic court in Indonesia's western Aceh province sentenced two men to public caning on Monday, after Islamic religious police caught them engaged in what the court deemed were sexual acts. The trial at the Islamic Shariah District Court in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, was held behind closed doors. Judges have the authority to limit public access in such a case and open it only for the verdict. The two men, aged 20 and 21, were arrested in April after residents saw them entering the same bathroom at Taman Sari city park and reported it to police patrolling the area. The police broke into the toilet and caught the men kissing and hugging, which the court considered a sexual act. The lead judge, Rokhmadi M. Hum, said the two college students were "legally and convincingly" proven to have violated Islamic law by committing acts that lead to gay sexual relations. The court didn't publicly identify the men. Prosecutors previously sought 85 strokes of the cane for each of the men, but the three-judge panel decided on what they described as lenient punishment because the men were outstanding students who were polite in court, cooperated with authorities and had no previous convictions. The judges also ordered the time they have served to be deducted from their sentence. It means the number of lashes will be reduced by four as they have been detained for four months. The prosecutor, Alfian, who like many Indonesians uses only a single name, said he was not satisfied with the lighter sentence, but said he will not appeal. Aceh is the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia allowed to observe a version of Islamic law. It allows up to 100 lashes for morality offenses including gay sex. Caning is also punishment for adultery, gambling, drinking and for women who wear tight clothes and men who skip Friday prayers. Indonesia's secular central government granted Aceh the right to implement the law in 2006 as part of a peace deal to end a separatist war. Aceh implemented an expansion in 2015 that extended the law to non-Muslims, who account for about 1% of the province's population. Human rights groups have criticised the law, saying it violates international treaties signed by Indonesia protecting the rights of minorities. Indonesia's national criminal code doesn't regulate homosexuality. Monday's verdict was the fifth time that Aceh has sentenced people to public caning for homosexuality since the Islamic law was implemented. In February, the same court sentenced two men to public caning for gay sex after neighbourhood vigilantes in Banda Aceh suspected them of being gay and broke into their rented room and caught them naked and hugging each other.
Euronews
8 hours ago
- Euronews
Prominent US rabbi assaulted at Vienna rally questions police actions
In the latest incident that could add fuel to the debate about the rise of antisemitism in Europe, a prominent US rabbi was assaulted at a pro-Palestine rally in Vienna on Friday and then taken to a police station for questioning by Austrian police officers. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, also known in the US as 'America's Rabbi', told Euronews that while holidaying in Vienna with his wife he came across the rally and decided to confront what he said were 'Islamists who want Jews murdered', whom he differentiated from Muslim faithful, whom he called 'brothers'. Videos posted by Boteach online show that he was surrounded by demonstrators during a heated exchange, and one of them kicked him in the leg from behind, after which another person grabbed him by his shirt collar. In the video, Boteach called on the police to arrest the men, but officers were seen surrounding him to question him instead. Boteach said the officers told him, 'Calm down or you will be arrested'. A post shared by Rabbi Shmuley (@rabbishmuley) Still, he was led to the police station for identification and further questioning, leaving him "humiliated and shocked that this can happen in 2025 in Europe just for wearing a kippah', he told Euronews. The police officers refused to identify themselves, he stated. For Boteach, the question remains why he was taken in for questioning and not all who participated in the scuffle. 'I could not believe that right after standing passively as a Jew in Vienna, bothering absolutely no one and suddenly being threatened with murder simply wearing a kippah, I was now being threatened with arrest by the Austrian police," rabbi Boteach explained in a personal post online. While he told the police that it was minutes from Shabbat, the rabbi said the officers took a statement from him over his acting 'cold and aggressive' and claiming it was for a report of assault. But when they saw the videos of the incident, corroborated by witnesses, Boteach said the officers admitted he was the victim and made him sign a statement. 'At the end of the two hours, the supervising officer who had been unnecessarily cold and even threatening to me, came to the interview room and was warmer. Perhaps he had googled me. I don't know," Boteach said. "He explained that he was also a minority who had immigrated to Austria. He said he understood the threat to the Jewish community. He and I shook hands. But why then did they treat me for hours as a would-be criminal,' he asked. A spokesperson for the Austrian police told Israeli news agency JNS on Sunday that 'a brief disturbance occurred involving one person" and that "police officers on site prevented any further confrontation." Investigation is currently under way on suspicion of attempted assault and property damage by unknown perpetrators, the spokesperson explained. No arrests were made at the gathering, they further added. Antisemitism in Europe keeps growing Leading European and international organisations have warned for months of increased antisemitic sentiments on the continent since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in October 2023. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)'s J7 Task Force report published in May, violent antisemitic incidents have risen across seven countries with the largest Jewish communities outside of Israel, which include France, Germany and the UK. The report stated that attacks on Jewish schools, synagogues and businesses, alongside individuals, have increased significantly, in some cases more than doubling in 2023 compared to the previous year. In Germany, antisemitic incidents increased 75% from 2021 to 2023, 185% in France and 82% in the UK. Police statistics showed 3,200 crimes motivated by antisemitism occurred between 1 January 2024 and 7 October 2024 in Germany alone, according to the report. Another survey by US campaign group the Anti-Defamation League from January has found that around half of the world's adult population holds deeply entrenched antisemitic attitudes, double the number from a decade ago. In some European countries, as many as four-fifths of the adult population believe in tropes such as that Jews control the media and business, or are responsible for most wars. Even prior to the war, antisemitism was present on European soil. According to a survey carried out by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights before the war started, 96% of respondents said they experienced antisemitism in Europe between January and June 2023. Considered by US media as 'the most famous Rabbi in America', Boteach decried his ordeal in Europe as a warning. 'Vienna must choose: Will it be the city of Mozart, of Schubert, of Mahler — or will it remain the city where Jews are attacked in the streets and statues of Jew-haters stand tall?,' he said, adding that he reached out to his 'friends at the highest levels of the American government and the Trump cabinet' because 'if Austria allows such attacks to pass without serious consequences, it is sending a clear message to its Jewish community: you are on your own.' 'In city after city, from Paris to London to Brussels, anti-Israel rallies have become open calls for violence against Jews," he explained. "The world looks away. The police stand back — or, as in my case, turn their suspicion on the victim," Boteach concluded.
LeMonde
9 hours ago
- LeMonde
Macron condemns Israeli plan to seize Gaza City as 'permanent war'
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, August 11, condemned Israel's plan to expand its operations and take control of Gaza City as a "disaster" and a path to "permanent war". "This war must end now with a permanent ceasefire," Macron said in a statement, adding Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City was "a disaster of unprecedented gravity and a headlong rush into permanent war." The French president added: "Israeli hostages and the people of Gaza will continue to be the primary victims of this strategy." Israel has said its military would "take control" of Gaza City in a plan approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet that sparked a wave of global criticism. In the statement, Macron said it was important to establish a UN-mandated stabilization mission to secure the Gaza Strip. "The Security Council must now work to establish this mission and give it a mandate," he said. "I have asked my teams to work on this without delay with our partners," Macron added. Netanyahu defended the plan on Sunday, saying "Israel has no choice but to finish the job and complete the defeat of Hamas." "We have about 70 to 75 percent of Gaza under Israeli control, military control," he said. "But we have two remaining strongholds, OK? These are Gaza City and the central camps in Al Mawasi."
