A controversy that has given rise to death threats. Sunday, January 23, a report from the program “Zone prohibited”, devoted to radical Islamism and partly shot in Roubaix (North), is broadcast on M6 shortly after 9 p.m. The subject is causing a lively controversy, with some seeing it as a stigmatizing report. Since then, presenter Ophélie Meunier and a young person who testifies in the report have been placed under police protection after receiving death threats. Franceinfo summarizes this case for you.
1About twenty minutes on Roubaix
The report, entitled “Faced with the danger of radical Islam, how the State defends the Republic”, was filmed in certain districts of the city of Hauts-de-France, but also in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) , Lyon (Rhône) and Bobigny (Seine-Saint-Denis). During the twenty minutes devoted to the development of communitarianism in Roubaix, the images, filmed most of the time with a hidden camera, show certain districts, including rue de Lannoy, a commercial axis of the city, districts where a “community withdrawal” was pointed to in a 2019 government report, according to the voiceover. “Veiled women are more and more numerous”she says.
Then the “Forbidden Zone” team goes to a shop where faceless dolls and animals are sold. “Toys that tend to shape the minds of children (…) according to radical Islam which prohibits any human representation”, explains the comment. Yes “These businesses are not illegal”recalls the voiceover, “they reveal the influence of a very rigorous current in Roubaix”. Before continuing on a fact “more alarming” : the presence of “sulphurous books” in some Islamic bookstores in the city, which “advocate the stoning of women” Where “the jihad”. The documentary then claims that “some businesses are adapting” citing the example of a restaurant “where veiled women have their reserved places”.
The report also returns to the suspicions of “breach of trust” targeting the association Ambitions and initiatives for success, which offers tutoring lessons to children ranging from CP to terminale. This was partly financed by public funds until February 2021, before being suspected of carrying out religious proselytism by providing Arabic lessons. In this case, three members of the association are prosecuted and placed under judicial supervision, while the mayor of Roubaix, Guiillaume Delbar, is accused of embezzlement of public funds “by negligence” for having supported it. “financially and publicly”. The trial was also postponed to October 2022 due in particular to “the media turmoil around this case”.
2Critics and death threats
The report, lasting a total of 1h30, immediately aroused great excitement, with some criticizing the presentation made of Roubaix. In the evening, on social networks, many are those who dispute the image given to the city. Like this Internet user who explains “having eaten many times [dans le restaurant filmé] as a non-veiled woman, the boxes are reserved for everyone, without distinction!” In The Voice of the North (paid article)shopkeepers on rue de Lannoy say to themselves, “frustrated not to have been able to bring their point of view”.
“We are encountering difficulties, but they are more related to parking, cleanliness, incivility and a few deal points. Not to communitarianism.”
Pascal Delmas, president of the Union of merchants of the rue de Lannoyin “The Voice of the North”
The various-right mayor Guillaume Delbar also reacts in a press release: he denounces a Roubaix bashing and an “caricature”recalling that the debate “must not be manipulated by those who see separatists everywhere”.
The controversy quickly escalated and death threats were made against the presenter of M6, Ophélie Meunier, and a resident of Roubaix, Amine Elbahi. This 25-year-old association activist and lawyer, who testifies with his face uncovered in the report, says he is leading “a real battle against radical Islam”. There’s asserts that Roubaix is threatened by the rise of Islamist fundamentalism and that it alerted the mayor twice, in October and November 2020, to the dubious practices of the association Ambitions and initiatives for success. He says he seized the prefect of the North on this subject.
Since the broadcast, Amine Elbahi received “a lot of threats and insults” on social networks, by SMS and on WhatsApp, as well as by voice recordings “recorded by a bailiff”. According to his lawyer, the Roubaisien is described there as “kuffar” (“unbeliever” in Arabic) and “he is told that he is going to be beheaded and slaughtered”. He filed a complaint on January 28.
Threats also target the mayor of Roubaix: in a letter addressed to France Bleu Nord, Guillaume Delbar says he has received “more than a dozen messages” threatening him. Some call it “prostitute” Islamists. “Your name will forever remain as that of a traitor. You will pay dearly for it”, said another. The city councilor also filed a complaint.
3Placement under police protection
Six days after the broadcast of the report, Ophélie Meunier and Amine Elbahi, were placed under police protection on Saturday 29 January. According to a ministerial source, this protection is provided by the SDLP, a service specifically responsible for protecting personalities.
The same day, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, claimed on Twitter to have given “instruction that each time a journalist is the subject of serious threats, he benefits from police protection. We will find the authors of these threats”.
I gave instructions that each time a journalist is the object of serious threats, he benefits from police protection. We will find the perpetrators of these threats. https://t.co/YJ5678fyQ1
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) January 29, 2022
“The journalists and people who testified in this report have been supported, their complaints have been heard”again assured the tenant of Place Beauvau during a trip to Marseille on January 31. “I gave extremely important means so that the authors of these threats are found.”
4Many supports for the facilitator
If the management of M6 prefers not to comment on the case, the chain’s society of journalists (SDJ) expressed its support for Ophélie Meunier on January 31. “We, SDJ from the M6 newscast and SDJ from RTL, give our full support to the entire team of ‘Forbidden Zone’ and in particular to Ophélie Meunier, as well as to all the speakers who have agreed to testify”she wrote on Twitter. “It is unacceptable to attack anyone like this. There is no justification for threats or violence, and information and freedom of the press must remain a priority if we want to preserve our democracy.”
@sdj_m6 @SDJRTL @m6info @RTLFrance #Restricted zone pic.twitter.com/sZg2aHQNKM
— SDJ_M6 (@sdj_m6) January 31, 2022
In the process, the societies of journalists from RTL, BFM TV or even of France 2 supported the presenter of “Forbidden Zone” by relaying the message on social networks. For his part, the lawyer Charlie HebdoRichard Malka, hammered at the microphone of RTLthat “we must be unanimously united because a death threat against journalists is unbearable, it is unacceptable”. In the middle of the presidential campaign, several candidates also supported Ophélie Meunier. Valérie Pécresse, Fabien Roussel, Eric Zemmour or even Yannick Jadot were indignant at the threats received by the host.
5Criticisms on the background of the report
On February 1, Judgment on images also returned to the controversy caused by the broadcast of this report. The site reveals that several Muslim people appearing in the subject of “Forbidden Zone” denounce a “handling” from M6. They state in particular, with supporting emails, that they were contacted for a “documentary on secularism and living together” and not on radical Islam.
Guest of the program “Touche pas à mon poste” on C8, the student Lilia Bouziane thus criticized biases in the questions he was asked and skilfully chosen scenes. According to her, the team, for example, chose to maintain a dialogue with some of her friends, all from the Maghreb, and not the “pizza night” organized with comrades from all walks of life.
For their part, director Michaëlle Gagnet and editor-in-chief Jean-Marie Tricaud went behind the scenes of the filming to respond to the many critics accusing them of wanting to stigmatize the city of Roubaix. “We really took care to be extremely balanced, and we say from the start of the report that Roubaix is a city of 98,000 inhabitants, multicultural, where all religions cohabit”said the director on Europe 1, who refutes everything “amalgam”. “We do not at all present Roubaix as a city under Islamist influence”she defended herself again.