Macron to Al Jazeera: “My duty is to protect rights and...

French President Emmanuel Macron has affirmed that his country respects the freedom of worship, and offers the same rights to its citizens, whatever their beliefs, because France is a country of peace and brotherhood which has no problem with religions. He also affirmed that they are all freely practiced in France in a framework of total respect.

Macron said in an interview with Al Jazeera last Saturday that as the country’s president, it is his duty to protect the rights and freedoms of the sovereign French people. However, this does not mean that he supports or adopts the prophet’s caricatures in his personal capacity, making it clear that the newspapers in which they were shared are not official, but that they are independent, unlike what many people, including officials and politicians, have understood. Macron added in this interview shared by several channels and sites: “I understand that one can be shocked by caricatures, but I will never accept that one can justify the violence.”

In response to a question from the Al Jazeera reporter about the criminalization of anti-Semitism in France, when no law protects sacred Muslim symbols, the president claimed that these are two different things to do not mix up. He explained that anti-Semitism and racism against all peoples are fought and prohibited by French law, adding that France takes its historical responsibility and recognizes its crimes committed in the past.

Macron condemned calls to boycott French products in Muslim countries, explaining that it is a misunderstanding and a falsification of the truth. He addressed the officials of these countries by asking: “In France, the press is free, which is not the case in several of these countries calling for a boycott. France does not kill and imprison journalists. On the contrary, it gives them the freedom to speak, to draw, to criticize, because they are not doing propaganda in this free world and we are proud of that. Boycotting an entire country, an entire people, because of a newspaper that has exercised its rights, is crazy. ”