BBC News – March 11, 2011
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has fired his diversity adviser after he called on Muslims not to support the governing UMP party. Abderrahmane Dahmane, a Muslim and former UMP official appointed to his post only in January, was protesting against a planned debate on Islam. He said Muslim members of the UMP should not renew their party membership unless the debate was cancelled.
The UMP (Union for a Popular Movement) is planning to hold a public debate on 5 April on “Islam and secularism”. Speaking on March 10th, Mr Dahmane compared the situation of French Muslims to that of Jews during World War II and said the debate had been planned by a “handful of neo-Nazis”.
