THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Nicolas Sarkozy has blasted as “senseless” French National Front candidate Marine Le Pen’s claims that the Toulouse murders were linked to immigration.
Losing steam in the polls for round one of presidential elections on April 22, Miss Le Pen on Sunday launched a virulent attack on immigration, linking it to what she called a “green fascist” wave of Islamic fundamentalism threatening to unfurl over France after the deaths of seven this month at the hands of the self-styled al Qaeda killer.
The 23-year old Frenchman of Algerian descent was killed by elite French police in a shoot-out in his apartment last Thursday after a 32-hour siege.
“How many Mohamed Merahs are there in the boats and planes that arrive in France full of immigrants ?,” Miss Le Pen asked at a rally in Nantes, western France.
“Mohamed Merah is perhaps only the tip of the iceberg... This is not about the madness of one man but the advance of green fascism in our country."
Reacting on Monday morning, Mr Sarkozy said it was senseless to link Mr Merah to immigration as he was French. "We can't equate Mohamed Merah, born in France, French, to the children of immigrants arriving by boat,” he told France Info. “He was simply a monster.” » | Henry Samuel | Paris | Monday, March 26, 2012
