“A clumsiness” according to Sonia Backès, the Paris Mosque asks for “clarifications”

2023-05-23 19:23:23

The local affair still does not pass and takes a new turn. After the denunciation of this request by numerous associations which denounce religious filing, like SOS Racismthe Grand Mosque of Paris (GMP) asked the public authorities on Tuesday for “clarifications” on “the circumstances which led several heads of schools to receive a request for evaluation of the rate” of absence of pupils on April 21 , the end of Ramadan.

Police officers have, in fact, asked the heads of schools in Toulouse, by email, to tell them the number of students absent on the day of Eid al-Fitr. A request that aroused the indignation of the educational, trade union and even Muslim communities.

“An abnormal situation”

“These worrying facts lead the Great Mosque of Paris to urgently ask the public authorities for the most complete clarifications on this abnormal situation”, writes its rector, Chems-eddine Hafiz, in a press release, judging that “the answers given (…) seem insufficient”.

The interior ministrythrough the voice of the Secretary of State for Citizenship, Sonia Backès, admitted on Sunday that she had asked for an “assessment of the rate of absenteeism observed during Eid al-Fitr” but denied any “filing “.

“This request for evaluation undermines religious freedom and once again casts opprobrium on Muslims in France”, regrets Hafiz, recalling that a regulatory system gives students the possibility of being absent on the occasion of their religious festivals.

“Monitoring throughout the national territory of the progress of religious holidays”

Interviewed Tuesday atNational Assemblyduring the session of current questions to the government, by the deputy (LFI) François Piquemal (Upper Garonne) then by the Green MP Sabrina Sebaihi (Hauts-de-Seine), Backès denied any “registration of students according to their religious affiliation in the school of the Republic”.

However, “yes, there is a follow-up, throughout the national territory, of the general course of religious holidays in the public sphere”, she added. Sonia Backès recognized a clumsiness: “Yes, the request may have been formulated in a clumsy way. But no, asking for general information on the impact of religious holidays does not imply any aggressive intentions towards any religion,” she argued.