LYON ISLAMIC SCHOOL CONTROVERSY: ATTEMPTS TO OPEN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 006618 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/04/2016 TAGS: KISL SCUL PREL PTER FR SUBJECT: LYON ISLAMIC SCHOOL CONTROVERSY: ATTEMPTS TO OPEN MUSLIM HIGH SCHOOL HIT ROADBLOCK Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Josiah B. Rosenblatt for reasons 1.4(b)(d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Following weeks of controversy surrounding the decision by the Lyon school district to deny permission to the "al-Kindi" Islamic association to open France's second, and largest, Muslim high school, Muslim leaders in Lyon told APP Lyon Chief and visiting Poloff during October 3 meetings that they will increase their efforts to convince local and national authorities to reverse the decision. The Secretary General of the Lyon Academy, which oversees area SIPDIS schools, insisted that safety regulations, and not religion, motivated the school district's decision. Local Muslim leaders suspect that "al-Kindi's" association with the conservative Union of Islamic Organizations in France (UOIF), which is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood movement, is behind local authorities' reluctance to allow the school to open. A demonstration and sit-in by Muslim organizations and their supporters is planned in Lyon for October 5. END SUMMARY. SUPPORTERS OF ISLAMIC HIGH SCHOOL DISAPPOINTED DAYS BEFORE START OF CLASSES ¶2. (C) On August 30 just before the start of fall classes, the head of the Lyon Academy, which oversees Lyon area schools, denied permission to the "al-Kindi" Islamic association to open what had been billed as France's second, and largest, Muslim high school. (France's first private Muslim high school, the "Averros Lycee," opened in 2003 in the northern city of Lille along the Belgian border.) Approximately 150 students had signed up for classes at the school this fall. The Lyon Academy cited safety issues-- including ground pollution levels at the former industrial site that was to house the school and the school's proximity to a nearby gas terminal-- as the primary factors behind their decision. They also pointed to a "crisis" between the man who was to head the school and "al-Kindi," noting that French law requires unchartered schools to name a director who meets a number of specific requirements before being allowed to open. On September 22, the Academic Council on National Education (CAEN) affirmed the local authorities' decision, and the school was not allowed to open for the 2006-2007 academic year. ¶3. (C) Local Muslim leaders immediately criticized the decision, arguing that their right to open private religious schools was being blocked for fear that Muslim schools would sprout up across the country in response to France's 2004 law that effectively banned female students wearing head scarves from public schools (NOTE: While some observers had predicted that passage of the 2004 law would lead to a significant increase in the number of Muslim private schools, that has not been the case. The "al-Kindi" school would have been the first Muslim private high school to open since the passage of the 2004 law. END NOTE.) The "al-Kindi" association stresses that the school's site is safe and clean, and that there is no conflict between the man named as the Islamic school's director, Meddour Zoubir, and the "al-Kindi" association, as claimed by the Lyon Academy. "I have in my possession official documents that prove there is nothing in the soil and nothing in the air. Where must we look now? In the sky?!" Nazir Hakim, President of the "al-Kindee" association and national Vice-President of the UOIF, told the press. LYON MUSLIM LEADERS CLAIM DISCRIMINATION ¶4. (C) Kamel Kabtane, the Rector of the Grand Mosque of Lyon, stated that the city's Muslims are "mobilized in support" of efforts to open the Muslim high school. Calling the Lyon Academy's decision "an injustice," Kabtane said some Muslim parents wish to send their daughters to schools where they will be allowed to wear headscarves. Speaking in his immaculate mosque, Kabtane declared that there "are reasons beyond those given" by the Lyon Academy for the school's failure to open. He noted that the role of the conservative UOIF, backed by the Muslim Brotherhood, in supporting the school may have contributed to the Lyon Academy's opposition. "There are individuals behind the school who may have irritated people over the headscarf issue in public schools," he said. ¶5. (C) Azzedine Gaci, who replaced Kabtane last year in a contentious contest as the President of the Regional Council of the Muslim Faith (CRCM) (the Rhone-Alps region subsidiary of the national French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM)), told us he is deeply disappointed that local Muslims have demonstrated in good faith their loyalty to France and their PARIS 00006618 002 OF 002 respect for separation of religion and state, only to see their efforts to open private religious schools thwarted. Claiming that the "al-Kindi" association is in compliance with all regulations governing the opening of schools, Gaci stressed during a meeting at a mosque in the Lyon suburb of Villarbeune that the school's site is safe. "The arguments of the Lyon Academy are false. These types of decisions tell us that Islam has not yet found its place in France," Gaci stated. "We have done everything we are supposed to be doing in France," he continued. "We are creating an Islam specific to France. Our mosques do not have foreign ties. This mosque was built with French money, and we don't accept money from the Saudis or the Algerians because they might want something in return. We stress moderation. So what is the problem for us in opening a school?" he argued. While men gathered in the mosque's courtyard following the mid-day "dhuhr" prayer chatted in French and Arabic, Gaci repeated his loyalty to France. "I support the French system. I support the system of separation of religion and politics in France. But we need (Muslim) schools." OFFICIALS PROFESS SURPRISE THAT RELIGION HAS ENTERED DEBATE OVER SCHOOL ¶6. (C) Despite the widespread belief among Muslim leaders that "Islamophobia" was behind the Lyon Academy's refusal to allow the Muslim high school to open, Lyon Academy Secretary General Brigitte Bruschini maintained that religion was not an issue in the decision. Detailing the various steps the Lyon Academy had taken in evaluating the "al-Kindi" association's application to open the school and the specific regulations the group had failed to comply with, Bruschini stressed that children's safety and French law were the only factors motivating the academy's decision. Noting that officials at the Lyon Academy are parents and would not want anyone's children to be exposed to pollutants at an industrial site, Bruschini defended the academy's decision-making process as "transparent." "We respect all religions. We respect the laws of France. Religion is not an issue," Bruschini emotionally declared. Bruschini and officials at the academy specifically criticized the UOIF's role in the controversy, which may feed assumptions by some local Muslims that the Lyon Academy is wary of the involvement of the conservative UOIF in the "al-Kindi" school. "This is not the majority of Muslims who have a problem with this. This is the UOIF," they said. MUSLIM LEADERS PLAN TO TAKE TO THE STREETS ¶7. (C) Both Kabtane and Gaci stated that they have the support of many local Muslims and non-Muslims in Lyon. They added that among the Islamic school's supporters are elected leaders, officials at national ministries, and Catholic and Jewish religious leaders. They said they will attempt to marshal this support in their efforts to reverse the Lyon Academy's decision in the coming months. Michel Laloum, a rabbi from Lyon's liberal community, told us that he supports the right of any religious community to open private schools so long as the schools are not "anti-integrationist." Addressing the "al-Kindi" controversy, he asked, "If they want a school for their kids, why not?" ¶8. (C) Local Muslim leaders will have a chance to illustrate the level of support for the "al-Kindi" school in the days to come. CRCM President Gaci stated that Muslim organizations have a three-pronged strategy for attempting to get local and national officials to reverse the Lyon Academy's decision. Noting a planned demonstration and sit-in for October 5 in Lyon, Gaci stated: "We will do three things. We will talk to the Minister of Education at the national level. We will have a sit-in. And we will ask to speak to the Rector of the Lyon Academy. Everything that we will do will be peaceful." Despite his disappointment over the school's failure to open this academic year, Gaci stated that he remains optimistic the "al-Kindi" school will eventually open as planned. "Similar things happened when they opened the first Muslim high school in Lille, but in the end the school was allowed to open," he concluded. Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm STAPLETON