PARIS (AP) – It was bad enough when France learned that the minute of silence for victims of the nation’s deadliest terror attacks in decades was not respected by all students. Some children contested it, others walked out. But when an 8-year old Muslim boy proclaimed, “I am with the terrorists,” the alarm bells sounded at full strength.
The chilling call from a child so young brought into stark relief the divide between mainstream France and a portion of the Muslim population, often from neglected neighborhoods. But the official reaction – hauling the boy into the police station for questioning – also triggered debate, with many seeing it as a sign of mounting hysteria.
The fierce official backlash against expressions of Muslim extremism in the wake of this month’s Paris terror attacks stems in part from the sheer numbers of homegrown jihadis. More French have embraced jihad in Syria and Iraq than in any other European country – over 1,000. Dozens of these fighters have returned, feeding fears they could turn their battle skills on France. In early January, those fears were realized, as three Frenchmen with links to Islamic extremists went on their murderous rampage, killing journalists at the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, a policewoman, a policeman and shoppers at a kosher grocery store.
The French government is desperate to prevent more bloodshed. This week, it started a “stop jihad” website that mimics the media tactics of the Islamic State group luring youth to the battlefront – while, crucially, adding a dose of real-life warnings about what the siren calls from Syria can mean. They range from being killed far from home to having a role in massacres of children.
President Francois Hollande held a day-long emergency meeting on Thursday with school officials, associations and mayors of poor suburbs with crime-infested housing projects – widely believed to also be filled with potential jihadis. The government is trying to devise a plan to bridge the divide between the haves and have-nots and bring the values that define French citizenship, notably equality and secularism, to this parallel world.