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The hardline centrist, who is also deputy mayor of Drancy, a suburb northeast of Paris, said that the carmaker's Aulnay plant, which closed in 2013, had been forced to shut its doors because of "problems arising from never-ending religious demands by Muslim employees".

He said: "The Aulnay site closed because Muslim employees were constantly taking unscheduled prayer breaks and had become unproductive. It's the truth. A Peugeot official told me that it was one - but obviously not the only - of the reasons the plant was shut down."

The shocking claims were made in French newspaper France Info.