The hideous attack in the Notre-Dame basilica in Nice (France will not give in to terror after Nice attack, Macron says, 29 October) and the recent beheading of the history teacher Samuel Paty recall the terrible days of Charlie Hebdo, Bataclan and the Nice lorry killer. France is now a deeply unsettled country, and Emmanuel Macron should seek to reassure his citizens.
Instead, the president has ramped up tension by clashing with Islam in an attempt to make “fear change sides”. The French government has closed mosques, searched homes and shut down associations in a crackdown on radical Islamism that has inflamed moderate Muslims in this country and around the world.
Religious tolerance is a cardinal indicator of a civilised society. Europeans have spent centuries telling others how to live, or interpret, their religion. Macron is stigmatising an entire faith based on the actions of a few violent extremists. It can have only one result – to fuel rage.
Prof Ara Darzi
Co-director, Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London
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