A new open letter has been published in France warning of the threat of civil war and claiming to have more than 130,000 signatures from the public.
The message, published in a right-wing magazine, accuses the French government of granting “concessions” to Islamism.
Meanwhile, the Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has called the latest letter a “crude manoeuvre” and accused its anonymous signatories of lacking “courage”.
The authors of the letter describe themselves as part of a younger generation of soldiers who have served in Afghanistan, Mali and the Central African Republic, or joined domestic anti-terrorism operations.
The new message criticised the French government’s response to the “elders” who signed last month’s letter: “Did they fight for you to allow France to become a failed state?”
“If a civil war breaks out, the army will maintain order on its own soil,” the letter went on to say.
“No one can want such a terrible situation – our elders no more than us – but yes, civil war is brewing in France and you know it perfectly well.”
France has recently proposed a controversial bill to tackle what President Emmanuel Macron has described as “Islamist separatism”.
However, some critics in both France and abroad have accused the government of unfairly targeting Islam.
