Pakistanis burn a French national flag during a protest following French President Emmanuel Macron's comments over the Mohammed caricatures, in Peshawar, on Oct. 26, 2020. Abdul Majeed/AFP via Getty Images
France has warned its citizens to take extra safety precautions while living or traveling abroad, as Muslims in multiple Islamic countries vent their fury over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
The French Foreign Ministry issued safety advice on Tuesday to French citizens currently in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Iraq, and Mauritania, urging them to exercise caution, stay away from protests, and avoid public gatherings.
“It is recommended to exercise the greatest vigilance, especially while traveling, and in places that are frequented by tourists or expatriate communities,” said the ministry.
A Turkish youth holds a photograph of President Emmanuel Macron, stamped with a shoe mark, during a protest against France in Istanbul, on Oct. 25, 2020. Emrah Gurel/AP Photo
France’s national police have called for increased security at religious sites around the All Saint’s holiday this coming weekend.
The terrorist threat remains “very high,“ Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on France-Inter radio on Tuesday, ”because we have a lot of enemies from within and outside the country.”
The latest outburst of Muslim anger was triggered by French President Emmanuel Macron’s reactions to the beheading of a French history teacher by an 18-year-old Islamic terrorist on Oct. 16.
Samuel Paty was beheaded in broad daylight outside his school in a middle-class Paris suburb by the teenage Chechen refugee, who had sought to avenge his victim’s use of the Mohammad caricatures in a class on freedom of expression. Police shot the attacker dead.
A child holds up a poster of Samuel Paty as people gather on Republique square in Lille, northern France, on Oct. 18, 2020. Demonstrators in France took part in gatherings in support of freedom of speech and in tribute to the history teacher who was beheaded near Paris after discussing Mohammad cartoons with his class. Michel Spingler/AP Photo
President Macron has vigorously defended the cartoons as protected under the right to free speech. At a memorial for the teacher last week, Macron said, “We won’t renounce the caricatures.”
On Sunday, he wrote on Twitter in both Arabic and English, “We will not give in, ever.”
Macron’s government has been planning to tackle what he calls “Islamist separatism,” which refers to the “parallel society” that thrives in some neighborhoods around France where radical Muslims take control of the local population to inculcate their beliefs.
People look at flowers laid in homage to slain history teacher Samuel Paty, outside the Bois d'Aulne secondary school, in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, northwest of Paris, on Oct. 19, 2020. Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images
Macron’s stance has angered some Muslim countries. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Macron needed mental treatment and led calls for a boycott of French goods. France responded by recalling its ambassador to Turkey and warning its citizens in the country to take extra caution to avoid danger to their personal safety.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan also hit out at Macron for “attacking Islam,” and called on Facebook to ban “Islamophobic” content.
Neither Erdogan nor Khan has publicly condemned the killing of the French teacher.
French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech to present his strategy to fight Islamist separatism, in Les Mureaux, outside Paris, on Oct. 2, 2020. Ludovic Marin/Pool via AP
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin retorted on Tuesday that Turkey and Pakistan should not meddle in France’s domestic affairs.
Meanwhile, Islamic terrorist groups ranging from the Taliban in Afghanistan to Hezbollah in Lebanon have condemned Macron’s defense of the Mohammad cartoons.
Apart from protests, there have been growing calls in several Muslim countries for boycotts of French products.
Thousands of people gather during a demonstration in support of freedom of speech and to pay tribute to French history teacher Samuel Paty, in Republique square, Paris, on Oct. 18, 2020 Michel Euler/AP Photo
The publication or display of images of Mohammad, which Muslims see as blasphemy, has triggered several terrorist attacks in France.
After cartoons depicting Mohammad were published by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, its editorial offices were attacked in 2015 by gunmen who killed 12 people.
Last month, as a trial of 14 alleged accomplices in the 2015 attack opened in Paris, the magazine republished the cartoons to underscore the right of freedom of expression.
On Sept. 25, a Pakistani man stabbed two people outside Charlie Hebdo’s former offices in Paris.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
