[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] - Twenty retired generals, as well as serving officers, signed the ferocious rebuke
- Incendiary letter claims France at risk of 'disintegration' at 'hands of Islamists'
- Defence Minister Florence Parly warned 'these are unacceptable actions'
- She added that those serving officers who signed letter would be disciplined
Twenty retired generals, as well as several serving soldiers, signed the letter which warned that failure to act against the 'suburban hordes' - a reference to the predominantly immigrant population of the housing estates which surround French cities - will lead to deaths 'in the thousands.'
The government strongly condemned the letter, which was published on the 60th anniversary of a failed coup d'etat by generals opposed to France granting independence to Algeria.
The open letter, published in Valeurs Actuelles, a right-wing magazine, claims a military coup might be necessary to stop a 'civil war' in France.
Despite condemnation from the government and left-wing parties, Marine Le Pen hailed the letter which was signed by 80 officers, as well as the 20 generals.
The lead signatory was Christian Piquemal, 80, who commanded the Foreign Legion before losing his privileges as a retired officer after being arrested while taking part in an anti-Islam demonstration in 2016.
It was written by Jean-Pierre Fabre-Bernadac, a former officer, and signed by 1000 others who were in lower ranks.
graduate of the prestigious Saint-Cyr military school founded by Napoleon, de Richoufftz served as aide-de-camp to French Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy from 1981 to 1984.
He served in Iraq, Africa and Bosnia.
He is known as the 'general of the suburbs' after penning a book titled Another Late War in 1992.
The general sought to alert the public to 'real ghettos on the outskirts of cities', warning that intervention was needed to integrate disadvantaged young people. 
|
