Marine Le Pen met a grandmother on her way. In Pertuis, in the Vaucluse, Friday April 15, the candidate of the National Rally (RN) was arrested in front of the cameras by a woman in a white hijab, Fatima Benmalek, 70 years old. “It’s a sign of grandmother”, supported this resident of Algerian origin. Marine Le Pen argued the oppression of women in certain neighborhoods, including ” young girls “while denying the words of those close to her that veiled women are themselves Islamists.
His interlocutor said she was unconvinced by the Monde : “It’s still Islam and the hijab, but the harkis came back with their veils. Everyone has their choice. If Marine Le Pen is against the veil, why does she take selfies with veiled women? »
Further on, another elderly woman, her hair covered, was indignant at the candidate who had repeated, in the morning on BFM-TV, that he was ” essential “ to prohibit the wearing of the veil, despite the fundamental freedoms protected at the constitutional level.
The next day, after her about-face in three days on a possible referendum on the death penalty, Marine Le Pen affirmed that the ban on the veil was no longer the alpha and the omega of the fight against Islamism. “I am not obtuse”, she dropped on Saturday in Saint-Rémy-sur-Avre (Eure-et-Loir). She instead returned this “complex problem” to the « discussion » in Parliament, then to the popular verdict by imagining that “Citizens could repeal this law if they are not satisfied” through a citizens’ initiative referendum.
Throughout the first week between the two rounds, Marine Le Pen found herself caught up in this controversial measure. A political obstacle for the far-right leader wishing to reassure the left. She who proclaims, as in Avignon on Thursday, that she « [retirera] of right to any Frenchman”, distinguishes in his speech the Muslim woman from the garment. Target “the Islamist uniform” without targeting those who wear it, while subjecting them to a fine: insufficient to convince the mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard, now withdrawn from the campaign of Marine Le Pen, who criticizes ” a mistake ” impossible ” to implement “.
Impasse
With this general and absolute measure, France would become the only country in the world to ban the veil in public places. Questioned Tuesday on France Inter, Marine Le Pen pleaded that “Mr. Bourguiba had banned the veil in Algeria” (actually, in Tunisia). But in the 1980s, the Tunisian president had prohibited the wearing of the veil in public establishments and administrations. Not on the street.
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