Den franske regjering har vedtatt forbud mot offentlig bønn på gaten. Likevel var det noen som trosset forbudet første fredag det var i kraft.

Få ting vekker mer misnøye, sinne og frustrasjon i Frankrike enn at muslimer omgjør gatene til utendørsmoskeer, skriver Soeren Kern.

Spørsmålet er om muslimene lar seg forflytte innendørs. Utendørsbønn er en måte å markere troen på overfor de vantro, det er samtidig en markering av styrke, samhold og revir.

Franskmenn er ikke dummere enn at de skjønner dette. Men har myndighetene nerver til å håndheve et forbud?

The French government has enacted a new law prohibiting Muslims from praying in the streets, but on the first day of the ban hundreds of Muslims defied the law by taking over streets and sidewalks in Paris and other French cities to pray.

The ban, which took effect on September 16, is the government’s response to growing public anger in France over the phenomenon of Muslim street prayers.

Every Friday, thousands of Muslims from Paris to Marseille and elsewhere close off streets and sidewalks (by doing so, they close down local businesses and trap non-Muslim residents in their homes and offices) to accommodate overflowing crowds for midday prayers. Some mosques have also begun broadcasting sermons and chants of «Allahu Akbar» via loudspeakers in the streets.

The weekly spectacles, which have been documented by dozens of videos posted on Youtube.com, have provoked a mixture of anger, frustration and disbelief. But despite public complaints, local authorities have until now declined to intervene, largely because they have been afraid of sparking riots.

The issue of illegal street prayers was catapulted to the top of the French national political agenda in December 2010, when Marine Le Pen, the charismatic new leader of the far-right National Front party, denounced them as an «occupation without tanks or soldiers.»

During a gathering in the east central French city of Lyon on December 10, Le Pen compared Muslims praying in the streets to Nazi occupation. She said: «For those who want to talk a lot about World War II, if it is about occupation, then we could also talk about it [Muslim prayers in the streets], because that is occupation of territory. It is an occupation of sections of the territory, of districts in which religious laws apply. It is an occupation. There are of course no tanks, there are no soldiers but it is nevertheless an occupation and it weighs heavily on local residents.»

Many French voters agree: the issue of Muslim street prayers – and the broader question of the role of Islam in French society – has become a major issue ahead of the 2012 presidential elections.

France Bans Muslim Street Prayers
«An Occupation Without Tanks and Soldiers»
by Soeren Kern
September 20, 2011 at 4:30 am
http://www.hudson-ny.org/2435/france-bans-muslim-street-prayers