Paris uses Nice terror attack to undermine workers’ rights

BY EMMA JOHNSON

French President Francois Hollande is using the July 14 terrorist attack in Nice to press his assault on civil liberties and the space to organize public protests, with a special edge against working people of the Muslim faith. He immediately announced the extension of the state of emergency that has been in place since November.

Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, of Tunisian origin, killed 84 people and injured more than 300 when he drove a 19-ton truck into tens of thousands of people who had turned out to celebrate Bastille Day. Bouhlel “was a soldier of Islamic State,” that reactionary group claimed two days later.

The state of emergency, which was supposed to have been lifted July 26, was instituted after Islamist terrorists killed 130 people in Paris Nov. 13. Under its sweeping powers police have conducted more than 3,500 house raids, arrested hundreds of people and set up security checks at entrances of stores, concert halls and train stations. More than 120,000 cops and security agents patrol the major cities.

Tens of thousands have protested against the emergency measures across the country. In June the government had to back off from banning a demonstration against an anti-labor bill after a public outcry.

Capitalist politicians use the terrorist attacks to call for bans and surveillance of Muslims. But Muslims have been the principal victims of these acts. As Islamic State loses territory in Iraq and Syria, it has lashed out in a spree of assaults. In the last month, attacks in Turkey, Bangladesh, Iraq and Saudi Arabia killed over 300 people.

At least 30 Muslim funerals have been held for those killed in Nice, a spokesperson for a regional Islamic association told the New York Times July 19.

Hamza Charrihi, 28, who was at the celebration with his parents, told the French news agency L’Express that his mother was the first victim of Bouhlel’s rampage. “She wore a hijab, she practiced an Islam of the right balance,” he said. “But that is not the one practiced by the terrorists.”

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