Robert Chardon
Elham Asaad Buaras
A French mayor has been suspended from his party after calling for the country to ban Islam on May 14.
Robert Chardon, the conservative Union for a Popular Movement Party (UMP) mayor of Venelles in southern France, tweeted: “The Muslim religion must be banned in France” and added that anyone practising the religion must be “immediately escorted to the border”.
He also claimed that “the religion of Islam will be banned in France on Oct 18, 2027.”
Anyone practicing the religion should be “immediately escorted to the border,” he added. His tweets were widely condemned by conservatives, including former President Nicolas Sarkozy.
“I condemn this proposal even if secularism also means fixing limits,” he tweeted.
“Rights and limits go together.” Meanwhile, a spokesman for the center-right UMP confirmed plans to expel Chardon.
Chardon also called for abolishing France’s law on secularism and amending the constitution to stipulate that “the republic favors the practice of the Christian faith”. France is home to a Muslim minority of seven million, Europe’s largest.
