Iran Press/Europe: French lawmakers hold a key vote Tuesday on the draft law, which is expected to win approval in both houses of parliament.
President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist government argues that the bill is needed to protect French values like gender equality and secularism and to prevent radical ideas from taking root and inspiring violence.
But those at Sunday’s protest said France already has legal tools to do this, and that the bill stigmatizes the country’s No. 2 religion even though the majority of French Muslims do not espouse extremist views.
Some described it as a political ploy by Macron to win over conservative and far-right voters ahead of next year’s presidential election.
"It’s not worth attacking a whole community because one person did a horrible act," said Zeyneb Bouabidi, a woman from the Paris suburb of Conflans-Saint-Honorine, where teacher Samuel Paty was stabbed in October after showing his class caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad published in satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo for a discussion about free expression.
Bouabidi described facing occasional discrimination at university and in her jobs because of her Arab-sounding name, and fears laws like this one could make matters worse.
"They make comments like ‘go back to your country.’ But I am in my country! I was born in France," she said.
A collective of Muslim, anti-racism, left-wing, pro-Palestinian, and other activist groups organized Sunday’s rally near Trocadero Plaza across from the Eiffel Tower to call for the bill to be scrapped. About 150 people took part in the peaceful protest, including Muslims and non-Muslims.
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