France passes Bill to curb Islamist separatism

PARIS • France's National Assembly has approved legislation designed mainly to counter a rise in Islamism in towns and cities that the government says threatens national unity.

The draft law, approved on Tuesday after 135 hours of sometimes heated debate, did not single out any particular religion, but it cracked down on practices such as forced marriage and virginity tests.

It included tough measures against online apologists for acts of violence, stricter surveillance of religious associations, and tighter restrictions on educating children outside mainstream schools.

The draft legislation reflects a decision by French President Emmanuel Macron to defeat what he calls "Islamist separatism" and reinforce the unifying principles of French secularism, which afford no place in politics for religion.

France's Muslim population is estimated to number about five million people; many have family origins in Algeria or other parts of its former empire.

The country has suffered a wave of Islamist militant attacks in recent years and tackling religious extremism, French identity and domestic security will be big issues in next year's presidential election.

With 15 months remaining before the French presidential election and the left unable to identify a viable candidate, Mr Macron has been prompted to embrace centre-right territory for now.

The draft law, even in its more moderate final form, constitutes part of this strategy.

It extends the requirement of strict religious neutrality beyond civil servants to anyone who is a private contractor of a public service - like bus drivers.

It also creates a new offence of "separatism", defined as threatening, intimidating or assaulting an elected official or a public sector employee.

Presented to Parliament on the 115th anniversary of the law that enshrined the separation of state and religion in France, the Bill has been branded by some on the left as an infringement of liberties and by those on the far-right and some conservatives as too weak.

The draft legislation represented a "powerful offensive" by the secular state, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said. "It's a tough text... but necessary for the Republic," he told RTL radio ahead of the vote.

The Bill passed by 347 votes to 151 in Parliament's Lower House, where Mr Macron's centrist ruling party and its allies hold a majority. There were 65 abstentions.

It now moves to the Senate, where the centre-right opposition dominates, for final approval.

The debate around the legislation became more charged after the Oct 16 beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty by a teenage Islamist who said he wanted to punish him for showing cartoons of Prophet Mohammad in a class on free speech.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has accused Mr Darmanin of not tackling radical Islam head on. "You are restricting everyone's freedom to try to modify the freedoms of a few Islamists," she told him in a debate last week, referring to the curbs on home-schooling.

The fact that the Bill never mentions Islam is also a source of anger to right-wing parties.

"The target is missed because it is not named," Mr Philippe Bas, a senator for the Republicans, told Le Figaro. "The target is Islamism, which aims to impose its totalitarian law over the law of the Republic."

REUTERS, NYTIMES