Most French see Islam as too influential in society:

An increasing majority of people in France believe Islam plays too influential a role in their society and almost half see Muslims as a threat to their national identity, according to a poll published yesterday.

The survey by pollster Ifop in Le Figaro newspaper showed that 60 per cent of people believed that Islam was "too important" in France in terms of its influence and visibility, up from 55 per cent two years ago.

It found that 43 per cent of respondents considered the presence of the Muslim community as a threat to their national identity, compared with just 17 per cent who said it enriched society. Forty per cent of those questioned were indifferent to the presence of Islam, Le Figaro said.

"Our poll shows a further hardening in French people's opinions," Jerome Fourquet, head of Ifop's opinion department, told the newspaper.

The struggle of secular France, whose people are mainly Catholic, to assimilate the largest Muslim population in Europe was thrust into the spotlight in March when Muslim Mohamed Merah, went on a shooting spree in south-west France that killed three Jewish children, a rabbi and three soldiers.

"In recent years, there has not been a week when Islam has not been in the heart of the news for social reasons: the veil, halal food, for dramatic news like terrorist attacks or geopolitical reasons," Fourquet said.
The prevalence of halal food and rising immigration - particularly from north Africa - were hot topics in the campaign for the presidential election as Nicolas Sarkozy sought to appeal to voters of the far-right National Front.

Sarkozy eventually lost to Socialist Francois Hollande but a contender to lead his conservative UMP party, Jean Francois Cope, put Islam back on the agenda this month by suggesting Muslim youths were tearing pain au chocolat pastries from children's hands during Islam's fasting month of Ramadan.

The publication of the poll also came after a far-right group occupied a mosque in the western city of Poitiers at the weekend and issued a "declaration of war" against what it called the Islamisation of France.

Mohammed Moussaoui, president of the French Muslim Council (CFCM), said fear of Islam was being stoked by political manipulation of concern over immigration and fears the growing Muslim population could lead to the imposition of sharia law.

"Islam has left the spiritual sphere to become a political subject," he said, in response to the poll. "Attempts to associate marginal practices with mainstream Muslim religion fuels the rejection of every aspect of Islam."
The survey, carried out on Oct. 15-18 on 1,736 people, showed a growing resistance to the symbols of the Islamic faith. About 43 per cent of those questioned were opposed to more mosque building, up from 39 per cent in 2010.

Sixty-three per cent opposed Muslim women wearing the veil or headscarves in public, compared with 59 per cent two years ago. Sarkozy's previous conservative banned the wearing of full-face veils.

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Here is an English translation of a letter sent to Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault by the Génération Identitaire on October 23, 2012:

Here is an English translation of a letter sent to Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault by the Génération Identitaire on October 23, 2012:

Mr. Prime Minister,

On Saturday October 20, at six o'clock in the morning, in the company of a hundred young activists, we entered the construction site of the Great Mosque of Poitiers. By late morning, while you were on an official visit to Asia, you published an official communiqué. If we regret your moral condemnation of our action, we are, on the other hand, pleased by the interest you have shown in our movement, attested to by the rapidity with which you reacted.

Nevertheless, we would like to believe that your point of view derives from an inadequate appreciation of the facts. If our country regularly experiences occupations of factories, offices, and churches, usually organized by the CGT labor union or immigrant-support associations, they are not always peaceful and do not necessarily relate to a political question. But our occupation of the construction site of the Great Mosque of Poitiers was non-violent and derives from our desire for a public debate. Our presence was limited to a banner and slogans. Evacuation proceeded peacefully.

Our objective was - and is - to draw the public's attention to the problem of immigration and the Islamization of France. We know that on these points you have the opposite opinion. Thus, when you were mayor of Nantes, you granted a public subsidy of 200,000 euros to a Muslim "cultural" center, even though it was closely connected to radical Islamic movements. Ever since your appointment as head of the Government, you have been clearly acting in favor of the development and rooting of immigration in France. So be it! That is your right and, perhaps, your duty with regard to the exigencies of States such as Qatar or Algeria.

Note: I like that!

As for us, we take the opposing view. We are among those who think - and we still have the right to think - that if the French were to become a minority, then France would no longer be France. A fantasy? No. All one has to do to be convinced is to look at the recent studies from INSEE on the youth of the region of Ile-de-France or the number of mosques built during these past years in our land.

Do you want this to go on? We want it to stop!

This was the goal of our action in Poitiers, to which your party, the PS, but also your allies from the Front de gauche and Europe-Ecologie-les-Verts, responded unanimously with hatred. Do you really think, Mr. Prime Minister, that, in a Republic, we can legitimately ban the speech of those demanding a referendum? If your Republic is not just a word, not just a semantic theft, then of course, the answer is no.

We do not ask that you understand us. We ask, Mr. Prime Minister, that you recognize our right to freedom of expression.

We want a peaceful public debate? The parties that support your government respond with invectives and threats. We want to open the voting booths? They angrily wave their stick. And yet, were they not the ones who, a while back defended the Pussy Rioters who had entered into a Russian church?

You will, of course, answer that the Justice system decided to prosecute us. But, let's be serious, Mr. Prime Minister. Could you swear that not one of your ministers called the prosecutor of Poitiers? Furthermore, do you know the reason given for the arrest of four of us? "Inciting to racial hatred" for having chanted, among other slogans: "Charles Martel!" Is that your Republic? Is that your answer to the hundreds of thousands of young Frenchmen who refuse immigration because they suffer its consequences regularly?

These are the things we hope to discuss with you, Mr. Prime Minister. And so we request a meeting with you or, if not that, a meeting with one of your advisers.

Awaiting your reply, we remain sincerely yours,

The Génération Identitaire

Below, the Prime Minister: