Excerpt:
First he lambasted "anti-white racism", now an outspoken right-wing French politician has set his sights on the Muslim community as he seeks to become the heir to Nicolas Sarkozy.
Jean Francois Copé, who is bidding to become leader of the centre right UMP party, a position once held by Sarkozy, showed on Friday that he is not afraid to court controversy.
At a meeting in the southern town of Draguignan, Copé lamented the state of some neighbourhoods in France's cities, and in doing so launched a thinly veiled snipe at Islam.