Insight for Sunday 15 February 2015
Muslims offer Friday prayers at a French mosque in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo killings PHOTO: AFP
As France struggles to figure out how to combat Islamist radicalism and promote integration, politicians there have called for France’s Muslims to “choose the Republic”, in essence to be more like Ahmed Merabet – the police officer killed responding to the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices.
Insight follows the BBC Word Service’s Helen Grady as she meets Muslims in France and speaks to them about their response to the Charlie Hebdo attack.
Do they feel they need to do more to be French, or does the Republic's strong insistence on secularism make them feel that there is little place left for French Muslims?