French President Emmanuel Macron vowed an ‘intractable’ fight against ‘political Islam,’ which he said seeks secession from the French Republic. His comments left many puzzled about his goals.

After delivering a speech addressing numerous social issues tied to France’s burgeoning protest movement, the Yellow Vests, Macron’s press conference took an odd turn when he laid into the French Muslim population.

“We are talking about people who, in the name of a religion, pursue a political project,” he said. “A political Islam that wants to secede from our Republic,” against which he asked the government to be “intractable.”



Macron also gave a ringing defense of French secularism, and called out “communitarianism.”

“We must not hide ourselves when we talk about secularism, we do not really talk about secularism, we talk about the communitarianism that has settled in certain districts of the Republic,” Macron said, referring to Muslim communities.

French citizens gave mixed reactions on social media to the president’s remarks, some posing their own questions in response.

Crise sociale #Macron ns parle de communautarisme, d’islam! what about??? Si c’est pr encore plus prendre les français pr des abrutis en les manipulants la diversion ça ne marche plus! Vs n’avez pas honte @EmmanuelMacron ?😡😡😡😡 #GiletsJaune#ConférenceDePresse — CitoyenneDuMonde (@fleurdejasmin81) April 25, 2019

Macron est passé de " rempart contre l'extrême droite " a " c'est la faute de l'islam " très vite mais heureusement c'est trop gros pour que les gens se fassent avoir #conferencedepresse — Moha Fresca (@MOHA__M) April 25, 2019

#Macron ‘Le Grand Debat’: the Republic needs to regain its legitimacy in the suburbs. This means a hard line against radical Islam. The civic service will be re-instated and will help youth from the suburb to find employment and play an active role in our society. — Aurelien Dory (@DoryAurelien) April 25, 2019

#Macron défends laïcité speaking about a “republican renconquering” of neighbourhoods over run by radical Islam. This doesn’t ever seem to have been a #GiletsJaunes concern however — James Creedon (@JamesCreedonF24) April 25, 2019

Some suggested Macron sought to draw support from the right, capturing some of the constituency of National Rally (previously National Front) party leader Marine Le Pen.

Donc pour Macron, le seul moyen de lutter contre les "nationalistes", il faut durcir les politiques migratoires, mettre des frontières et stigmatiser les musulmans... bref faire comme Le Pen. En fait #Loiseau reste cohérente... #conferencedepresse#Macron18h — Etienne B. Schmitt (@schmitteb) April 25, 2019

Qu'entends je? On dit au journal dans l'autre pièce que Macron a adopté le programme Le Pen. Quelle saloperie.. "projet national" tu parles... Prêt à tout pour reprendre des électeurs à son faire-valoir Le Pen... — Patrick L Castéra (@Paddy_le_Rouge) April 25, 2019

The government has in recent months worked to strengthen the enforcement of a 1905 law mandating a separation of church and state, Macron said, threatening to shut down “more associations or cultural institutions when they do not respect the rules of the Republic."

The move appears to make good on a statement Macron gave last year, saying he wanted to create an “Islam of France,” wherein the government would “set down markers on the entire way in which Islam is organized” in the country.

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