The Grand Mosque of Paris (GMP) on Tuesday asked the public authorities for "clarification" on "the circumstances that led several school heads to receive a request for evaluation of the rate" of absence of students on April 21, the day of the end of Ramadan.
Police officers asked school heads in Toulouse by email to tell them the number of students absent on the day of Eid al-Fitr, a request that has sparked outrage from the educational, union and Muslim communities.
"Insufficient" response
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These worrying facts lead the Great Mosque of Paris to urge the public authorities to provide the fullest clarification on this abnormal situation," wrote its rector, Chems-eddine Hafiz, in a statement, judging that "the responses provided (...) appear insufficient'.
The Ministry of the Interior, through the voice of the Secretary of State for Citizenship, Sonia Backès, admitted Sunday to have requested an "assessment of the rate of absenteeism observed on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr" but denied any "carding". "This request for evaluation infringes on religious freedom and once again casts opprobrium on Muslims in France," regrets Chems-eddine Hafiz, recalling that "a regulatory device gives students the opportunity to be absent on the occasion of their religious holidays".
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Questioned Tuesday at the National Assembly, during the session of current affairs in the government, by the deputy (LFI) François Piquemal (Haute-Garonne) then by the ecologist deputy Sabrina Sebaihi (Hauts-de-Seine), Sonia Backès denied any "filing of students according to their religious affiliation in the school of the Republic". However, "yes, there is a follow-up, throughout the national territory, of the general conduct of religious holidays in the public sphere," she added.
Sonia Backès acknowledged a clumsiness: "Yes, the request may have been formulated in a clumsy way. But no, asking for general information about the impact of religious holidays does not mean any aggressive intentions towards any religion," she said. According to La Dépêche du Midi, a similar request was made in early May in the Hérault.
