In a bid to defend France's Muslim minority, France's President François Hollande announced on Thursday that France's pursuit of laicity does not mean to prevent Muslims from practicing their religion. His move was considered as preparing the ground for a re-election bid in order to gain votes from the Muslim minority as he suffers from low popularity.

"Nothing in the idea of secularism opposes the practice of Islam in France, provided it respects the law," Hollande said in a speech on terrorism and democracy in Paris. Secularism was not a "state religion" to be used against other religions, he added, denouncing the "stigmatization of Muslims." Considering the policing of its Muslim citizens, Hollande's statement runs counter to the French media and politicians, many of whom have expressed concerns about the incompatibility of Islam with core French values, most specifically, that of laïcité. France's far-right Mayor Robert Ménard, popular with his anti-Muslim rhetoric, claimed that real French people are "European, white and Catholic" and the leader of Front National, Marine Le Pen has still fueled islamophobia in France with her remarks.

A French court overturned a ban last week on burkinis issued in Cannes - the first in a series of local bans on the Muslim full-body swimwear this summer that set off a heated controversy at home and a wave of outrage abroad. The court in Nice concluded that the Cannes decree violates basic freedoms and is illegal because there were no proven risks of disruption to public order, or reasons of hygiene or decency for the ban in the famous Riviera city resort. Dec. 9 marks the anniversary of secularism in France, known as "laïcité." In 1905, the French government passed a law stipulating "the separation of churches and the state," thus enshrining secularism as a national principle. The law, which barred the state from officially recognizing, funding or endorsing religious groups, represented a major shift in church-state relations in France.

It has recently come under increased scrutiny in connection with the integration of Muslim and other religious minority groups in French society. Polls predict the Socialist leader would suffer a humiliating defeat if he threw his hat in the ring again after five years marked by stubbornly high unemployment and only timid attempts at reform. Three of his former ministers have already announced their own presidential bids. They could soon be joined by ambitious former economy minister Emmanuel Macron, who resigned from government last week and has hinted he too could run for the Elysee Palace. Hollande cast himself as the only man who could hold the fractured country together.