Council of Europe: Racism ‘commonplace’ in France

STRASBOURG, France — Racist speech has become “commonplace” in France including among some politicians, the Council of Europe said Tuesday, raising concerns over the growth of racist, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic violence.

“Hate speech, by becoming commonplace in the public sphere, remains a subject of concern,” said Thorbjorn Jagland, the rights watchdog’s secretary general.

He spoke as the group’s Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) issued a new report showing a 14-percent surge in racist violence in France between 2012 and 2014, including a 36% rise in anti-Semitic attacks.

Politicians came in for criticism, including far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose National Front won a record number of votes in regional elections in December while failing to win any regions.

Jagland urged political figures to avoid “uttering statements which stigmatize groups which are already vulnerable and exacerbating tensions within French society.”

The report said remarks by Le Pen and other politicians had fueled Islamophobia, highlighting one occasion when the National Front leader compared Muslim street prayers to the Nazi occupation of France.

The watchdog warned some policies made under France’s strict form of secularism could be “perceived as sources of discrimination,” such as a move by the mayor of the eastern town of Chalon-sur-Saone last year to insist that pork must feature on all school canteen menus.

The report also said France must do more to tackle homophobia and discrimination against the Roma, citing the case of a deputy mayor who lashed out over agricultural land on which travelers were trespassing, saying: “Hitler had perhaps not killed enough” of them.