Financed by the foundation of the Hungarian-born American billionaire speculator, George Soros, the French NGO Alliance Citoyenne has hit the news again. The NGO, which brings together Islamic migrants living in France, forced a gym in Lyon to change their internal rules and allow Muslim women to do workouts wearing hijabs.

A Lyon gym changed its internal rules and allowed women to wear hijab outfits after pressure from Alliance Citoyenne, an NGO based in France that advocates migrants rights and enjoys generous funding from the billionaire stock market speculator George Soros.

The first protest was staged on 3 July, when forty Muslim activists stormed a gym, demanding to be allowed to do workouts wearing headscarves.

Following consultations with the firm s lawyer, an agreement was reached. The management bowed to the Muslims demand, amending their internal rules and allowing Muslim women to wear sports hijabs while working out. The move was celebrated as another victory by Alliance Citoyenne on social media.

With this message, we want to urge other gym halls to follow suit, an activist from the NGO told Lyon s regional daily Le Progres. She added that the initiative was part of the organisation s campaign to fight for the civil rights of Muslim women so that rules prescribing what to wear are changed. 

However, the campaign was not truly welcomed in secular circles. Feminist blogger Naem Bestandji has condemned the way and the fundamental values of the movement, according to which Muslim activists box all Muslim women while referring to their civil rights and equate Islamic doctrines with their extreme behaviour. She added that the regulation did not discriminate against anyone, as all customers who use the gym are subject to the same rules, regardless of religion, gender or ethnicity.

This was not the first action of the association supported by George Soros. The ban on burkini has also provoked serious controversy in recent years leading the Alliance Citoyenne to stage protests against that law.

In 2019, two pools belonging to the municipality of Grenoble were closed after Muslim women entered the water in burkinis.

The pool master warned them that this was illegal and that they could only swim in traditional one- or two-piece swimsuits for hygienic reasons. The women did not comply with the request, so the pool master called the police. The officers recorded the names of the rebellious women and fined them 35 euros.

It was revealed that Alliance Citoyenne was behind the action. Although it is not a religious group, it has many extremist Muslims among its members. The organisation wrote on Twitter that the burkini action in Grenoble was „a manifestation of civil disobedience.”

Désobéissance civique des musulmanes grenobloises pour des piscines publiques qui respectent la liberté de conscience. @_Pourquoi @EricPiolle #burkini #islamoféminisme pic.twitter.com/nyAvjsryKK

— AllianceCitoyenne (@alliancecitoyen) June 23, 2019

The website of Alliance Citoyenne reveals that the organisation also uses the methods of the famed Saul Alinsky, and promotes the radical political activist s several books on its website. In addition, Alliance Citoyenne enjoys the generous support of US stock market speculator George Soros.

According to data available on the website of the Open Society Foundations (OSF), the organisation received 80 thousand dollars in 2016 and 90 thousand in 2018. The sum received in 2016 was spent on „transforming Alliance Citoyenne into a national organization with national visibility for anti-discrimination campaign.”