(Anadolu) France is being rocked by allegations that funds earmarked to fight “extremism” in the country may instead have targeted groups fighting anti-Muslim prejudice and even been used to target a news agency from a majority-Muslim country.
The €2.5 million ($2.7 million) Marianne Fund was announced in April 2021, following the gruesome murder of a Paris history teacher, as a measure to stem rising “separatism” in the country, according to the French government.
The fund’s creation was spearheaded by Marlene Schiappa, currently minister delegate in charge of citizenship, and management of the fund was given to the Inter-Ministerial Committee for the Prevention of Crime and Radicalisation (CIPDR).
