Paris: Nicolas Sarkozy attacked Islamic values brutally vowing to put an end to religious extremism.
“I have nothing against Muslims and I have nothing against migrants.I want people of all faiths to live together in harmony. But I want everyone to be ‘French’, there can be no compromise on that principle.” Sarkozy said in a live television interview.
He said: “Extremism must be eradicated; it’s a matter of urgency. If we don’t act now, if we turn a blind eye to Islamists, in 10 years, every single French Muslim woman will be forced to wear the Islamic face veil.”
The hardline presidential candidate said the full-face Islamic veil should be “banned” from all French universities.
“I want Muslim women to be free. I want them to be able to choose their husband; I want them to be able to wear their hair loose and uncovered; and I want them to be able to wear miniskirts and tight jeans.” Sarkozy said in an interview on BFM TV channel.
Mr Sarkozy also said France’s long-standing laws on secularism had to be respected: “We need rules. I don’t want young Muslim women to wear the face veil because their tyrannical husband, father, or brother says they have to.”
He also vowed to ban the burkini a body-covering Islamic swimsuit from all French beaches if he is re-elected president next spring.
“The burkini suggests that the female form is shameful and provocative, and is a symbol of Islamic extremism. In France, a woman’s body is not the devil,” he bragged.
Mr Sarkozy also spoke about the thorny issue of immigration, and said that sooner or later, migrants would head back to the ‘Jungle’ refugee camp in Calais, which is currently being dismantled.
He said: “It’s not the end of the ‘Jungle’.
“I don’t understand what the government is doing. Asylum seekers must be given sanctuary, but immigrants who are not fleeing armed conflict of persecution must be sent home.”