--- description: The French nationalist politician made the comments during a public rally in 2010. title: French Politician to Face Trial for Comments on Muslims image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7261c13f9d7d6c3e/698864ea524fc0ee5bdf4a4b/rtx1gptb.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # French Far-Right Politician Will Go on Trial for Comparing Muslims to Nazis ## Video: The Brief: Rising Religious Tensions in Western Europe [Watch (HLS stream): The Brief: Rising Religious Tensions in Western Europe](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DqxaDBme.m3u8) (2:50)  _Published 2015-01-08. Time's Ben Goldberger sits down with Foreign Editor Bryan Walsh to understand why some western European countries are experiencing Islamaphobia._ by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 23, 2015 4:21 AM CUT  Marine Le Pen, France's National Front political party head, attends a joint news conference at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, June 16, 2015. Marine Le Pen, France's National Front political party head, attends a joint news conference at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, June 16, 2015.Yves Herman—Reuters by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 23, 2015 4:21 AM CUT French nationalist politician Marine Le Pen is [set to face a trial](http://www.france24.com/en/20150922-france-far-right-leader-marine-le-pen-faces-trial-inciting-racial-hatred "undefined") in October for her past comments likening Muslim public prayers to the Nazi occupation, officials from her party and prosecutors in the eastern city of Lyon said Tuesday. The Lyon prosecutor’s office said Le Pen will be charged with “inciting discrimination over people’s religious beliefs,” in the trial slated for Oct. 20, French news channel France 24 reports. Le Pen, who leads the ultraconservative National Front party that her father Jean-Marie Le Pen founded, made the comments during a public rally in 2010\. She was referring to French Muslims forced to pray on the streets because mosques are overcrowded. “I’m sorry, but for those who really like to talk about World War II, if we’re talking about an occupation, we could talk about the \[street prayers\], because that is clearly an occupation of territory,” she had said. “There are no tanks, there are no soldiers, but it is an occupation nevertheless, and it weighs on people.” The initial investigation into Le Pen’s comments was closed in 2011 but reopened the following year after a complaint by a rights group. The 47-year-old, who is widely expected to win a regional election in the north of France in December, called the trial a “scandal.” “Those who denounce the illegal behavior of fundamentalists are more likely to be sued than the fundamentalists who behave illegally,” she told Reuters. \[[_France 24_](http://www.france24.com/en/20150922-france-far-right-leader-marine-le-pen-faces-trial-inciting-racial-hatred "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4045803/marine-le-pen-muslims-nazis-trial/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4045803/marine-le-pen-muslims-nazis-trial/"},"headline":"French Far-Right Politician Will Go on Trial for Comparing Muslims to Nazis","datePublished":"2015-09-23T04:21:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:10:37.950Z","description":"She made the comments during a public rally in 2010","url":"https://time.com/4045803/marine-le-pen-muslims-nazis-trial/","keywords":["France","Election","Muslims","trial","Marine Le Pen"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7261c13f9d7d6c3e/698864ea524fc0ee5bdf4a4b/rtx1gptb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7261c13f9d7d6c3e/698864ea524fc0ee5bdf4a4b/rtx1gptb.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Le Pen, France's National Front political party head, attends a joint news conference at the European Parliament in Brussels","caption":"Le Pen, France's National Front political party head, attends a joint news conference at the European Parliament in Brussels","creditText":"Yves Herman—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4045803/marine-le-pen-muslims-nazis-trial/","name":"French Far-Right Politician Will Go on Trial for Comparing Muslims to Nazis"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Brief: Rising Religious Tensions in Western Europe","description":"Time's Ben Goldberger sits down with Foreign Editor Bryan Walsh to understand why some western European countries are experiencing Islamaphobia.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DqxaDBme/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-01-08T20:45:37.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DqxaDBme.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4045803/marine-le-pen-muslims-nazis-trial/","duration":"PT2M50S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4045803/marine-le-pen-muslims-nazis-trial/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```