“The fight of our generation in Europe will be a combat for our freedoms,” Mr. Macron said, adding that he believed they were being “overturned”. French President Emmanuel Macron has called The New York Times media correspondent to criticize English-language coverage of France’s stance on Islamic extremism after recent attacks, arguing it amounts to “legitimizing” violence. “When France was attacked five years ago, every nation in the world supported us,” Mr. Macron told Ben Smith in comments published in the latter’s Sunday column. While paying tribute to the slain man, Mr. Macron defended France’s strict brand of secularism and its long tradition of satire. Defending France’s stance in a letter to the FT in which he denied stigmatizing Muslims, Mr. Macron wrote: “France — we are attacked for this — is as secular for Muslims as for Christians, Jews, Buddhists and all believers.”

Source: The Hindu November 16, 2020 16:41 UTC