A group gathered in front of the French Embassy protests against the ban on abaya (long dress) in schools in France in Vienna, Austria on September 16, 2023

French policies banning Hijabs and Abayas draw outrage at home and abroad

France’s Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera announced on 3rd September 2023  on France 3 that athletes representing France will be barred from wearing hijabs or other religious symbols while competing at the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.1  The minister stated that the ban upholds France’s principle of “strict secularism” or  “la laïcité,” in sports and…

Share Button
Read More

Rule of Law and the State-Sponsored Repression of Islam in France

“’We are Beginning to Spread Terror: The State-Sponsored Persecutions of Muslims in France” is the latest report to be produced by CAGE, an independent advocacy organisation that works to empower communities impacted by the War on Terror policies worldwide1. Authored by French legal Jurist and Cage researcher Rayan Freschi, it is considered a “first-of-its-kind”2  report that…

Share Button
Read More

18% of Muslims in France by 2050? ‘These statistics are not reliable and only serve to stoke fear’

The Pew Research Center published a study estimating the number of Muslims in France by 2050. According to the study, France could have a 12-15% Muslim population in 2050. For Hervé Le Bras, demographer and historian, these figures “are not reliable and only serve to stoke fear.” “This type of work prompts many debates and…

Share Button
Read More

Conferences of Muslims in France to meet in March

February 3, 2016 A national conference of Muslims of France will be held next March in Lyon, according to the Great Mosque of Paris. The decision to hold the conference was made during a working meeting in Paris chaired by the rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubaker and President of the Union…

Share Button
Read More

How Many French Muslims? Public’s Estimation Incorrect

Following the attacks in Paris that killed seventeen people in three days, Le Monde published an article responding to the “distrust that has spread in public opinion for several weeks.” Using information gathered during an Ipsos study, Le Monde found that the French tended to overestimate the number of Muslims they believed to be living…

Share Button
Read More