These murders, said centrist candidate Francois Bayrou, "because of their origin, of the religion of their family," are linked "to a growing climate of intolerance."
Politicians "have the duty to make sure that tensions, passions, hatred should not be kept alive at every moment. To point the finger at one or another according to their origins is to inflame passions, and we do it because in that flame there are votes to get."
The massacre at the Jewish school and the murders of Muslim and black soldiers, said the head of France's Council of Muslim Democrats, "are a strong signal sent to politicians and, more particularly, to those who, for several months, have played with fire."
And who had "played with fire"?
Sarkozy and Marine Le Pen, candidate of the rightist National Front.
Sarkozy has been toughening his stance on immigration and national identity. In a March 7 debate, he said that there are "too many foreigners" in France and that assimilation is "working worse and worse."
As Europe's native citizens age and die and immigration goes on and on—with 5 million Muslims already in France—issues of national identity will bedevil Europe, even as they will bedevil us, forever.
In Toulouse we see clearly now not only the dark side of diversity but perhaps the future of the West.
