On Saturday some 1500 motorcyclists gathered in Aix-en-Provence in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, protesting against the speed limit of 80km.
A Muslim driver, irritated by the blockage of the road by the demonstration, could not stand it any more and, swinging a knife through his open car window, drove his car into the rallying motorcyclists. Some of the witnesses testified that he was shouting “Allahu Akhbar”.
Two of the motorcyclists were wounded: one in the hand and the other in the arm. Both were hospitalized.
However, the angry crowd turned on the car, and with the help of helmets and rocks they began to destroy it. The driver and the passengers, however, managed to break free and avoid lynching by the furious crowd of motorcyclists.
The police found the impatient Muslim driver the next morning after a search. During his arrest, the police learned that one of the passengers of the car had been injured and was operated on on Sunday morning.
Polarisation of French society is increasing, also in areas around Aix-en-Provence.
A surveyed group of more than 7000 French high school students residing in areas where such “manifestations of radicality” were observed, yielded alarming results, two French researchers say.
The four problem zones in France surveyed included the Lille region, in Ile-de-France, near Dijon and around Aix-en-Provence, where a real prevalence of radical ideas, especially among young Muslims – 26 percent of the population studied – was observed.
Anne Muxel, director of research at the political research center of Sciences Po (Cevipof), conducted the investigation The Radical Tentation with fellow sociologist Olivier Galland.
Of the adolescents interviewed, 1750 are Muslim. “This investigation is part of the call by the president of the CNRS after the attacks of the Bataclan, on November 13, 2015, to request work, to understand what is happening.
“A quarter of high school students do not condemn such ‘outright’ attacks,” Muxel said.
To justify themselves, they put forward the issue of respect for religion.
According to the study, 80 percent of French high school students interviewed consider that one can not make fun of religions and extreme radicalism was found in one to two high school students out of 10.
Another disturbing figure was that 20 percent of teens say it is acceptable to fight hand-to-hand to “defend their religion” according to the survey.
A third found it “acceptable in some cases to participate in a violent action to defend ones ideas”.