Gabriel Attal, the French Prime Minister, defended the French tradition of secularism in the wake of a Parisian school principal’s decision to resign following death threats, which he received when he asked a Muslim student to remove her veil while on school grounds.
Attal, who was one an education minster, stated that the government will be filing a complaint, alleging false accusations of mistreatment against the head teacher in February, against the student.
The state, Attal said, will always stand behind its officials, who he views as the front line of defense against “breaches of secularism” by Islamists who try to carve out special exceptions for themselves in the country’s education establishment.
France, which has been a bastion of secularism since the French Revolution in the late 18th century, has felt its policies on the issue under increasing pressure as its Muslim community has swelled to become Europe’s largest. In response to this pressure, the authorities banned “signs or outfits” which demonstrate religious affiliation from school grounds and activities. Among the paraphernalia named in the 2004 ban are such items as turbans, headscarves, and kippas. The nation’s secularism laws are meant to insure state neutrality in all such matters.
Head teacher’s departure from Maurice Rael lycée comes amid a series of incidents that have cause deep tensions within the country, including the murder of a teacher last year by a former Islamist pupil. In late February the head asked three students to dispense with their headscarves while on school grounds, but when one refused a confrontation ensued. In the days following, the head received several death threats online. The head’s resignation was accompanied by a letter to teachers, parents, and pupils from the school explaining that the principal took early retirement for security reasons.
In a March 27 post on X, the head of the right wing Republican faction in France’s Senate upper house, called the entire incident a “disgrace.”
