France: Mayor of Nice Says Islam Not Compatible With Democracy

The MP declared his opposition to a declaration made by François Hollande during his official trip to Tunisia, when he declared that “France knows that Islam and democracy are compatible”. “We can’t go around proclaiming secularism everywhere and at the same time say that Islam and democracy are perfectly compatible”, he declared. “In France as soon as you have in a crèche, in a school, in a public place, someone who would display an ostentatious sign of belonging to a religion, everyone starts yelling, which seems to me totally legitimate, because I defend the principles of secularism,” declared the mayor of Nice.

“When I see what’s happening in Egypt and a certain number of countries in the name of Islam, I am particularly worried,” added Mr Estrosi, ending with: “Thus for me, it is totally incompatible, I want us to defend the idea of liberty and democracy based on the principle of secularism, which forms the model for our country.”

These remarks provoked the indignation of the spokesman for the Socialist Party, Eduardo Rihan Cypel, who thought that Christian Estrosi was looking to “out-tough the Front National” in view of the local elections of 2014. “These are incredible remarks: Mr Estrosi is calling openly for pogroms. It gives the impression of being a member of a militia that is speaking, not an elected official of the Republic.”