- Twenty retired generals, as well as serving officers, signed the ferocious rebuke
- Incendiary letter claims France at risk of ‘disintegration’ at ‘hands of Islamists’
- Defence Minister Florence Parly warned ‘these are unacceptable actions’
- She added that those serving officers who signed letter would be disciplined
Emmanuel Macron has threatened to punish generals who signed an open letter warning that the country is heading for ‘civil war’ because of radical Islam.
Twenty retired generals, as well as several serving soldiers, signed the letter which warned that failure to act against the ‘suburban hordes’ – a reference to the predominantly immigrant population of the housing estates which surround French cities – will lead to deaths ‘in the thousands.’
The government strongly condemned the letter, which was published on the 60th anniversary of a failed coup d’etat by generals opposed to France granting independence to Algeria.
‘These are unacceptable actions,’ Defence Minister Florence Parly said Monday, adding that serving military members had flouted a law requiring them to remain politically neutral.
‘There will be consequences, naturally,’ Parly said, adding that she had instructed the army chief of staff to discipline them.
'Twenty retired generals and scores of ex-officers have sparked a political furore in France after calling on President Emmanuel Macron to stop the country from descending into chaos and “civil war” at the hands of Islamists.'t.co/C4ho8Ue1gX pic.twitter.com/7a3sTIsbmg
— Tess Summers (@tesssummers98) April 27, 2021
AC