Back in December 2010, she had complained about the fact that there were “10 to 15” places in the European country’s streets where Muslims “occupied” to say their prayers whenever the mosques were full.
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“It is an occupation of part of the territory, suburbs where religious law is applied”, she said.
“Yes, of course. I wouldn’t miss such an occasion,” she said. “Indeed there are no tanks, no soldiers, but there is an occupation just the same, and it weighs on the inhabitants”.
“I’m sorry, but for those who really like to talk about World War II, if we’re talking about an occupation, we could talk about the [street prayers], because that is clearly an occupation of territory”, she told an FN rally in the eastern city of Lyon.
At the time she made the remarks, Le Pen was campaigning to become FN president, succeeding her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, himself no stranger to charges of provoking racial hatred.
Le Pen said she will attend next month’s trial. The case was reopened in 2012 following a legal complaint by a rights group.
“It is a scandal that a political leader can be sued for expressing her beliefs”, she told Reuters.
On Tuesday, Le Pen’s deputy, Florian Philippot, reacted angrily on Twitter to her summons. “Those who denounce the illegal behavior of fundamentalists are more likely to be sued than the fundamentalists who behave illegally”.
The National Front is riding high in opinion polls, thanks partly to the economic disasters of the Socialist government, and the often ineffective opposition of the right-wing Republican Party.
A similar criminal conviction for Ms Le Pen will plunge the party into further controversy, just as it was building momentum ahead of the regional elections in December and the presidential election in 2017.
The European Parliament stripped her father, the FN’s founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, of his immunity in 1997 and he was later fined by a German court for playing down the Holocaust.
Marine Le Pen has been credited with “de-demonising” the FN and throwing out its more xenophobic and extremist elements since taking control of the party in January 2011.
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Le Pen has leaned on traditional party arguments, calling for an end to Europe’s borderless Schengen zone as well as actions seen as enticing migrants to France.
