These are places to go, locals saynot “no-go zones,” as described by a Fox News commentator as well as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
The last few weeks have seen characterizations of some European cities as inordinately full of Muslims, areas where a woman without a veil might feel too scared to explore, areas that police largely avoid, and where Sharia law rules the day.
This storyline has struck a nerve in place like the British city of Birmingham and the Belleville neighborhood of Paris, coming on the heels of terror attacks in France that killed 17 and stirred worries around Europe.
It’s left some angry, dismissive or incredulous, unsure of what to make of it all. Who are these people, they ask, making sweeping, damning assessments of their hometowns from thousands of miles away?
“When I heard this, frankly I choked on my porridge, and I thought it was April Fools’ Day,” British Prime Minister David Cameron told network ITV, referring specifically to Fox News commentator Steve Emerson’s remarks. “This guy is clearly a complete idiot.”
Resident: Birmingham ‘not … cuckoo land’
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CNN’s Laura Akhoun grew up in the Paris neighborhood of Belleville, which has a large number of Muslims and immigrants. She describes it as a lively place where rent is a little cheaper, items at the market cost a little less, and people feel welcome, wherever they come from. People who are there now echo that view, saying they feel safe, comfortable and happy to live somewhere that people of all ethnicities and religions call home.
It’s no wonder then, that some proud French nationals felt disgusted by the idea of outsiders casting aspersions on such neighborhoods as dangerous places. Others fought back with humor — as evidenced in a fake French news show, “Le Petit Journal,” in which two men pretending to be Fox News reporters are seen on the streets of Paris. A graphic on the screen reads, “PARIS DANGEROUS CITY.”
At one point, one of the actors talks about getting in a taxi with a driver who had “a Muslim beard. Oh my God, he’s a very dangerous Islamist. He wants to kill us.” A little later on, one commentates as his fellow correspondent goes in and out of a Turkish restaurant.
“John, it’s too dangerous. Come back, come back; run away, run away,” the actor screams in seeming desperation. “Oh my God, couscous! Couscous is very dangerous. Couscous in Paris!”
CNN’s Natalie Orchard and Max Foster in London, as well as CNN’s Jim Bittermann in Paris, contributed to this report.
