
© Agence France-Presse
A high school 'radicalization detection test' is the latest proposal to fight terrorism from one French official - with the suggestion causing outrage online, but also spawning a large amount of ridicule.
Geoffroy Didier, vice president of the council of the Paris region and member of the Republican party, first announced the suggestion on France 1, before using his Facebook page to
expand on the idea.
"I offer to detect radicalization of young people as early as possible to stop this process, and to be able to protect the teenager, the family and society. In particular, I suggest creating a 'radicalization test' for any youth enrolled in a college or high school whose behavior has been identified as a concern by the educational community."
The test would be in the form of an interview between the student and a psychologist to estimate the 'radicalization risk', and would include questions "to confirm or contradict the existence of an Islamic radicalization process," Didier added in his Facebook message.
The questions could include the following: "Do you refuse sports activities on the pretext that they are mixed?" "How would you describe the recent attacks in France?" "What do you think of jihad?" and "Have you ever viewed videos or websites calling for Jihad?"
Should the test prove 'positive', the teenager's parents "will be informed, and psychological as well as educational support will be implemented immediately, to halt the radicalization process."
Didier said the student will then have to be tested to assess the progress of the 'de-radicalization'. If the process doesn't go as planned, the school will have to inform law enforcement authorities.
After the French official's comments emerged online, hundreds of users took to Twitter, mainly to express their outrage over the suggestion, and mostly with a liberal sprinkling of humor.
Comment: So a segment of the French population is capable of thinking straight on the subject of Muslims. And yet there is this:
'Burqini' pool party for Muslim women and children in France canceled - organizers cite death threats