Muslims pray in the street during Friday prayers near the
Poissonniers street Mosque in Paris December 17, 2010.
Photo Credit: Reuters/Charles Platiau

French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared last Thursday that multiculturalism has failed in France, joining a growing chorus of world leaders who have made similar admissions regarding Muslims in their countries as well ¹.

Sarkozy, in his television interview Thursday, even went so far as to say that "our Muslim compatriots must be able to practise their religion, as any citizen can," but he noted "we in France do not want people to pray in an ostentatious way in the street."

Readers of my article Germans Have Had Enough of Muslims will recall German Chancellor Angela Merkel telling immigrants that multiculturalism in her country has "utterly failed", and that immigrants needed to do more to integrate - including learning (gasp) to speak German.

In my November article The UK Needs More Jews and Fewer Muslims I reported that the British have had enough of Muslim immigrants and as of this coming April will drastically limit (by 90% or more) the number of immigrants entering the UK from outside the EU.

The way I see this progressing is that we in the west will first limit Muslim immigrants, and then when we can't stand even a few coming in we will ban all new Muslim immigration, and then when we become utterly disgusted and frightened by those remaining in our lands, with their reproduction, abuse of social services, and criminality, we will enter the final and nasty stage, deportation of those who refuse to integrate, which is to say, we will get rid of the devout ones.

Here's the story behind the photo at the top of this article:

Reuters, In France, far right seizes on Muslim street prayers

A call to prayer goes up from a loudspeaker perched on the hood of a car, and all at once hundreds of Muslim worshippers touch their foreheads to the ground, forming a sea of backs down the road.

The scene is taking place not in downtown Cairo, but on a busy market street in northern Paris, a short walk from the Sacre Coeur basilica. To locals, it's old news: some have been praying on the street, rain or shine, for decades.

But for Marine Le Pen -- tipped to take over from her father this weekend as leader of the far-right National Front party -- it is proof that Muslims are taking over France and becoming an occupying force, according to remarks she made last month.

Her comments caused a furore as she seized on the street prayers to drive home the idea that Islam is threatening the values of a secular country where anxiety over the role of Muslims in society has deepened in the past few years.

More than two thirds of French and German people now consider the integration of Muslims into their societies a failure, pollster IFOP said in a survey published on Jan. 5. In France, where Islam is the second-largest religion after Catholicism, 42 percent saw it as a threat to national identity.

"This has become a key political issue," said Frederic Dabi, IFOP's head of research. "Street prayers and the perceived growing influence of Islam are seen as impinging on French values of secularism, communal living."