French PM launches "action plan" against racism

PARIS, April 17 (KUNA) -- French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, faced with a sharp rise in racism, anti-Semitism and anti-Islamism, on Friday announced a vast, far-reaching campaign to stamp out this scourge and punish those responsible for such attitudes and acts, a statement has said.
The aim of the "action plan" is "to wake up consciences; to act; to not let anything pass," Valls said. It "will receive euros 100 million in government financing." "It is an undeniable fact: racism, anti-Semitism, the hatred of Muslims, foreigners and homophobia are increasing in an unacceptable manner in our country," the Prime Minister said in the statement, condemning verbal and physical violence and insults which create "daily insecurity and beat down on numerous fellow citizens." The new plan will use education and pedagogical tools as well as repression to try to curtail the growing racist trends here.
Prosecutors will be told to ask for stiffer sentences for racist acts, including prison terms, while educators will be instructed to emphasize the destructive character of racism in school teaching.
"French Jews must no longer be afraid to be Jewish (and) French Muslims must no longer be afraid to be Muslim," Valls stated.
The government anti-racism plan is deemed necessary after an explosion in racist acts since the two January terror attacks that killed 17 people and were carried out by three self-professed Islamist extremists, who themselves were killed by police.
Journalists and Jews were the main targets of the attacks three months ago and there has been a severe backlash against Muslims and their institutions in France, a trend which contradicts a drop in such attacks in 2014.
The French Council for the Muslim Faith (CFCM) said earlier this week that attacks against Muslims and Islamic interests here had skyrocketed in the first three months of the year and were up by over 600 percent compared to the same period in 2014.
The CFCM's "Observatory against Islamophobia" quoted official figures as indicating that such attacks and incivilities rose to 222 in the first quarter of 2015 compared to only 37 in the first quarter a year earlier. Attacks against Muslims in 2014 as a whole reached 226 and had declined by over 41 percent but this figure is set to be overtaken already this month.
There are an estimated five million Muslims in France and Islam is the second largest religion in the country.
Jewish bodies have also warned of a rising number of incidents involving the 500,000 Jews living in France and both Islamic and Jewish buildings are under military guard here since France drafted 10,000 troops on to the streets after the January attacks.
There are now an estimated 100,000 security personnel - police, Gendarmes and troops - deployed to guard and anti-terror duties around the country. (end) jk.msa