Radicalised Islamist terrorists are pushing ahead relentlessly in both the country s schools and workplaces, and their representatives are present nearly everywhere. Their increasingly violent actions often lead to tragedies.

To say that France has become a target for Islamist terrorists is not an overstatement. This is something even President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged, when he announced on 2 October last year that the French government would take steps to combat Islamist separatism. His draft bill was submitted to parliament in December.

However, not all Muslims living in France are happy with the bill and the proposed measures, as some believe that they will only widen the gap between people holding different religious views. Disagreements between Christians and Muslims are in many cases resolved by disputes and verbal wrangling, but many have received death threats recently  simply for exercising their right to free speech, which is legal and accepted in France.

The case of a 16-year-old teenage girl, Mila, who was threatened and insulted online for her outspoken social media post criticising Islam and the Quoran – which she said is only about hatred – has garnered nationwide attention. Eventually, the teenage girl was forced to change schools because authorities were unable to guarantee her safety, but she was subject to insults and harassment even months after the incident. In a Maltese restaurant, for example, she was recognised and threatened by a man, and then – after criticising Allah on the internet last October – she became the target of attacks by social media users. According to her own tweet, Mila received around thirty hateful messages and threats per minute.

Fanatical Islamist views are increasingly prevalent among members of the younger generation. According to a survey published in early November by the French polling institute Ifop, the majority of young Muslims in the country, 57 per cent, put sharia above the French law. This ratio shows a 10 percent increase in the last four years, which is disconcerting, because it reflects the views of young people, those who belong to the next generation, and reveals a growing tendency.

The fact that radicalised Islamists use the internet and modern technology to spread their views and stay in touch on social media – like in the case of Samual Paty, a teacher beheaded with brutal cruelty in mid-October – is also cause for concern  The shocking execution shows that radicalisation has also reared its ugly head in schools, since some students were indirectly involved in the teacher s death by providing a precise description and other information to the teacher s 18-year-old Chechen killer.

However, radicalisation in schools, which made headline news as a result of Samuel Paty s tragic beheading, is by no means unique. There are more and more students who insult or threaten their peers and even teachers in various ways. The latest incident took place a few days ago in Puy-de-Dome departement, central France, when several teachers at the Pierre Joel Bonte grammar school were threatened with death in the city of Riom. The school was forced to shut down and police detained a 15-year-old student.

In France, Islamist separatism appears to have launched a multi-front attack. While it tends to lure members of the younger generation on the internet, older jihadis systematically infiltrate workplaces where they begin their harmful and dangerous activities as insiders. Although people generally think that the country s law enforcement agencies have strict rules and regulations when it comes to hiring, some radicalised Islamists have managed to infiltrate.

The whole world was shaken by the events of October 2019, when 45-year-old Michael Harpon, a radical Islamist, knifed four policemen to death at the Paris Police Headquarters building with a ceramic knife that he carried through the detector gates without a problem. Following the incident, authorities received dozens of reports by officers who suspected that one of their colleagues was showing signs of radicalisation. French police chief Eric Morvan has received 27 such reports in three weeks, according to BFMTV. An article by Valeurs actuelles, published in January 2020, revealed that as many as sixteen people had been fired from French intelligence since 2014 due to radicalisation.

The question is how an ordinary company can screen and identify cases of potential separatism, when radicalised Islamist terrorists can – by outplaying the strict checks and controls – infiltrate police and France s intelligence agency. The answer is rather difficult, as an article in Valeurs actuelles – written by essayist and crisis management expert Michel Olivier – suggests. According to Mr Olivier, companies can become a new target for Islamist terrorism, because they lack the tools to prevent the risk of their employees internal radicalisation. Moreover, as there is no co-operation between police and the employers and companies have no counter-terrorism security measures in place, their fears appear well-founded.

All the more so because Islamists have thought of ways to provide legal protection for workers and employees accused of radicalisation. The recently disbanded Anti-Islamophobia Collective (CCIF), for instance, has taken a lion s share in advocacy for Islamic workers with radical views. Valeurs actuelles has obtained CCIF s archives detailingnthe group s activities in the past three years. Some 7,000 confidential documents show that CCIF has taken every possible opportunity to stand up for radicalised Islamists, lodging complaints against their employers for preventing workers from practicing their religious freedom, something that is a non-issue in the secular French workplace.

Although the French government has finally recognised the problem and that it was time to take action against Islamism, it appears to be losing ground against radicals, who have worked hard and persistently to infiltrate key institutions in both the education system and the French workplace.