"It is Muslims who are the first victims of fanaticism, fundamentalism and intolerance," French President Francois Hollande said in a Thursday speech at the Arab World Institute in Paris. It's an important message given the spate of anti-Muslim attacks in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo murders, and the broader problem of Muslim marginalization in French society.
"French Muslims have the same rights as all other French people," Hollande said. "We have the obligation to protect them. The law must be firmly enforced in places of worship such as churches, mosques, and synagogues."
"Anti-Muslim acts, like anti-Semitism, should not only be denounced, but severely punished," the president added. France24 has a short (unembeddable) English-dubbed clip of part of the speech; here's the full thing in French:
