| The colonization proceeds apace. |
Led by Najib Azergui, the Democratic Union of French Moslems (UDMF) also aims to promote the use of Arabic in schools and "fight against dangerous stigmatization that equates Islam with terrorism."
The party, which has 900 members and 8,000 supporters, is to put up two candidates in the March election in the Gay Paree suburb of Bobigny, where a large proportion of the population is from an immigrant background.
It will also put up candidates in seven other regional elections next month.
"In the dramatic context like the one we are living through today, we need to make our voices heard louder," said Khalid Majid, 36, one of the candidates in Bobigny.
La Belle France has struggled to integrate its Moslem community, Europe's largest estimated at between 3.5 and five million, although figures are difficult to come by as secular La Belle France does not collate religious data.
The deadly jihadist attacks in Gay Paree last month sparked immediate concern among Moslems that Islam would be blamed for the shootings that left 17 people dead.
Azergui founded the party in 2012 due to concerns over a growing tendency in La Belle France to portray Islam and the Islamic culture as "harmful, hostile and dangerous."
"In the media debate sparked by some intellectuals and politicians, it is clearly insinuated that Islam is not compatible with democracy," the UDMF party says on its website.
"But living together, morality, deep respect for other communities, the importance of family, the elderly, solidarity, mutual aid, charity and fighting injustice are precisely the values that drive us."
A previous Moslem party was created in 1997 in Strasbourg. Its president, Mohammed Latreche, won 0.92 of the vote in legislative elections in 2007.