- Nineteen prisoners use cutlery to break out of cells at Winchester prison
- France wants progress in Ukraine before Russia returns to G7
- Italy president begins talks to seek way out of government crisis
- Italian PM expected to resign as political chaos deepens
- Russia says US cruise missile test ‘regrettable’
- Kremlin - No date set for Normandy talks on Ukraine despite Macron meeting
- Egypt court hands out 6 death sentences on terror charges
- Putin says Russian nuclear explosion poses no threat
- Russian panel eyes alleged foreign interference in protests
- Gran Canaria wildfire triggers evacuation of thousands of people
- PM Johnson calls on Germany and France to compromise on Brexit
- Sudan's ex-president Bashir arrives at corruption trial
Sunday, 1 November 2020 (YJC)_ French President returned from his previous claims and said he can understand Muslims being shocked by cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he can understand Muslims being shocked by cartoons of the prophet Muhammad but that he can never accept them being used to justify violence.
The French leader spoke to Al Jazeera in an interview released on Saturday in which he sought to clarify his position on Islam and defuse tensions that flared following the killing of a teacher who showed caricatures of Muhammad to his pupils.
"I understand and respect that we can be shocked by these caricatures. I will never accept that we can justify physical violence for these caricatures and I will always defend in my country the freedom to say, to write, to think, to draw," Macron said.
He emphasised that the French press is free to publish what it wants and that what is released is therefore not the official position of the government.
"But does the president think this right should be removed? The answer is no because this is the right of the French people."
He also accused some of spreading "lies and distortions" about what he has said in recent days.
Last month, Macron said in a speech that "Islam is in crisis" and unveiled new measures to combat radical Islamism on French soil.
He doubled down on his comments following the beheading of Samuel Paty on October 16. The history-geography teacher was killed after he showed caricatures of the prophet Muhammad during a lesson on freedom of expression.
Macron's comments have sparked anti-French protests in Muslim-majority countries and a boycott of French products.
Three attacks have since unfolded including a deadly knife attack on a Nice church.
"I have seen too many people in the last few days saying unacceptable things about France, corroborating all the lies said about us, about what I had said and being tacit accomplices to the worst," he told Al Jazeera.
France, he said, is not fighting Islam but radical Islamism.
Source: Euronews
Your Comment